Changeless
by Hybridlovelies
Summary: Sequel to Timeless. Even though Klaus is against it, Caroline & the girls form a plan to find the cure for Elena, heading out to the deserted island where it is hidden, on their own. Once again, Caroline finds herself caught between love for Klaus & loyalty to friends. But when they find the cure, everything they thought they knew will change, & they may never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to the sequel to Timeless...it's finally here! Just one important thing before you read this story, and I'll say the rest at the end note. If you haven't read chapter 32 of Timeless, entitled LIMITLESS...GO DO THAT NOW! If you don't, you will probably be really confused by all the canon changes I've already implimented.**

**Oh, and this starts out alongside season 4, however just go ahead and toss all the canon storylines you know out of your head. Some stuff I'll pull from the season and the rest I'll be making up and tying together as I go along.**

***Deep breath*...I am very nervous!**

**Happy Reading!  
**

* * *

_"You think you are alive_  
_because you breathe air?_  
_Shame on you,_  
_that you are alive in such a limited way._  
_Don't be without Love,_  
_so you won't feel dead._  
_Die in Love_  
_and stay alive forever."_

― Rumi

* * *

**ProloguE**

Time.

_You have to change your perception of time when you become a vampire._

It was hard to imagine the future. Caroline's fantasies had always shifted as she was growing up. She dreamed about being a princess, a gymnast, and a broadcast journalist. Those details changed with her age and mood. But some things about the future were as certain to her as the sunrise that came each day.

She would always live in Mystic Falls. She would always be best friends with Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett. She would one day get married to an amazing man and live in a beautiful home and be a mom. They would all raise their kids together and she would die at a ripe old age in her bed with a lifetime of happy memories. These things would not change no matter if she became a princess, a gymnast, or a broadcast journalist.

And then she died at seventeen, and became a vampire, and everything changed.

She became a stronger, faster, more powerful being. She became a better version of herself. A better friend and daughter, fighting to protect the people she cared about and the place she called home. From the ashes of a monstrous curse, she rose, a determined and shining phoenix. And then...she fell in love.

Her future _changed_ when she travelled back to the past. Her mission had been to kill Klaus before he ever stepped foot in Mystic Falls, to save all of her friends, to change their present. But then she fell in love with him, the horrible, original hybrid vampire, and he fell in love with her.

Klaus became her future. She didn't need a crystal ball to know that. Maybe she would no longer be a journalist or a mom, but she would get to spend an eternity with the man she loved. Klaus had loved her through the centuries-even when he thought she was dead-and would love her until the world stopped turning. That would never change. Their type of love was unshakable. It was the type of love that Caroline had thought only existed in the pages of books or on a movie screen. Together, they had been through the worst of the worst, and came out on the other side stronger.

Perhaps it was romantic and fantastical, but she knew in her soul that nothing would break them apart. She and Klaus went on her list of life certainties, taking a place right at the very top. Her mind couldn't fathom a thing that would change it all.

Except time. Love could always change and fluctuate over time. But they had already beaten that hadn't they?

What being or thing in the whole of existence could ever cause a love like theirs to change?

* * *

**ChapteR 1**

The forest was quiet. No birds singing, no rustling of leaves, no sound or sight of any living creature. The trees seemed to be holding their breaths, watching, waiting, towering over. Faint beams of sunlight careened through the branches, but even the dust reflecting in the rays was at a standstill, frozen little glimmering specks. Nature was always a quiet place, a sanctuary, a place of silent reflection. But this wasn't quiet; filled with the warm whispers of wind, the friendly shift of leaves, and the sweet song of birds-this was stone, dead, cold silence.

Bonnie stood, turning around, not recognizing the place and not remembering how she got there. She knew that it was somewhere _not_ in Mystic Falls. The trees were unfamiliar, the shape of their leaves not native to her tiny hometown. As a witch, Bonnie had learned to connect with nature, to know the personality of the forests back in Mystic Falls. She often sought peace there and walked among the trees, regarding them as if they were old friends. They were, in a sense. They had watched her grow up in her tiny hometown, knowing what she was and feeling her power even before she was aware of it or them herself. But this place was a stranger to her. Something wasn't right.

A crack sounded behind her and she spun, her dark hair whirling around her face like a curtain. She breathed a sigh of relief, putting her hand to her chest when she recognized the friendly face behind her.

"Caroline," she sighed. "It's just you."

"Where's Elena?"

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie asked taking a step forward. She could see Caroline was frantic, her blonde hair wild and her shoes and clothes covered in mud.

"Bonnie!" Caroline reached up to her neck and felt something. Her hands pulled away, shaking, and covered in blood. It was then that Bonnie noticed the large, bleeding wound in the side of her neck. Her breath caught and Caroline let out a strangled cry, stumbling forward and falling to the ground.

Bonnie charged forward and caught her friend as she fell. She didn't possess the super vampire strength that Caroline did and her knees buckled under the weight. They dropped to the ground, Bonnie holding Caroline close as the blood from her neck continued to pour out all over both of them.

"Caroline!" Bonnie yelled, turned her over in her lap. Her hair was matted with sweat, her lips frothing with blood and spit. This wasn't right. What was happening? "Caroline! Open your eyes!"

Caroline sputtered and her eyes fluttered, rolling back and around in their sockets. Bonnie shook her gently trying to focus her, tapping the sides of her face in effort to keep her conscious. Bonnie brushed Caroline's hair away and looked at the wound. There was a small hole, gushing blood. The area around it was turning purple and yellow, the veins in her neck protruding. It reminded her of an infected werewolf bite. But the original wound was too small to be a bite.

"Tell..." Caroline croaked.

"What?" Bonnie asked. She was scared. She didn't know what to do or how to make her better. A cold hand seemed to slip over her shoulder as Bonnie held Caroline, its fingers giving her a squeeze. All vampires had the grip of death around them, a sort of dead space energy. But something was overtaking Caroline then, a different energy. Something darker than Bonnie had ever felt in her life. Caroline was dying."Hold on Care!"

"Tell him-" Caroline tried to choke out again. Bonnie looked around the forest, for the attacker, for Elena, her Grams, or someone to help them.

"Who?" Bonnie said. "What?"

"Let. Go."

Bonnie snapped awake. The forest, Caroline, the blood...it had all been just a dream. She was on the couch, in the Gilbert house, an old brown book settled over her stomach. She must have fallen asleep while going through Alaric's books about vampires; trying to find anything she could about Hunters or the cure or Silas.

The creak of a floor board made her sit up straight on the couch. She looked over and saw Elena standing in the hall.

"Hey," she said. "Sorry to wake you, just got home from..."

Another late night hunt, Bonnie filled in the blank in her head. Ever since their trip to Whitmore College with Damon, Elena had been going out to hunt on humans. Because she was a vampire. Her best friend, her sister, the person that she had been fighting to save for over a year now was a dead, blood sucking vampire.

"It's fine, I just fell asleep going through some of Alaric's old books." She noticed Elena's wince at hearing her former teacher/friend/guardian's name. They all missed him. For Elena, it was a mix of emotions. Alaric had been used in a plot by the original witch, Esther, to end the vampire race once and for all. Elena had gotten caught in the crossfire and killed. But as it turned out, Elena had died with vampire blood in her system, so she didn't stay dead. "I better get home."

"You can stay," Elena offered. "It is late after all."

"That's okay," Bonnie said. "I don't want my dad to freak out. I'll see you tomorrow." The truth was, she still felt nervous around Elena. As a witch, she was nervous about vampires in general, but around Elena especially. Elena still had control issues. She wasn't like Caroline, who had been a pro. Thinking of Caroline made her remember her dream.

She grabbed her stuff from the coffee table and told Elena goodnight, then headed out to her car. She made sure the door was shut firmly before dialing Caroline's number. Part of her wanted to go over and make sure Caroline was alright and see it with her own two, brown eyes. But she figured Caroline wouldn't be at her mom's house since she hardly ever stayed there anymore, and there was no way Bonnie was going out to Caroline's new residence. Even if they had formed a tentative truce with their former enemy, Bonnie still had no desire to spend any more time around the Original family than necessary.

The phone rang three times before Caroline picked up, her voice thick and grogey on the other end of the line.

* * *

A sharp ringing sound blasted through the darkness, waking Caroline from her much needed beauty sleep. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She was a vampire. Which meant she would never age. Which meant she didn't really _need_ beauty sleep. The song that sounded was a customized ring she had created especially for her best friend in the whole, entire world, Bonnie Bennett.

With a large groan, she dragged her arm from under the dark green, silk sheet and over to the oak nightstand where her phone sat, ringing loud enough to wake the undead.

"Are you drunk dialing me right now? Because I'm pretty sure we both need to be awake early tomorrow."

It was a joke. Caroline knew Bonnie wasn't drunk dialing. First of all, Bonnie barely ever drank alcohol. In fact, Caroline couldn't remember Bonnie ever having more than one cup of beer at a party. But that could have been because she had always been wasted out of her mind-back when she was silly and insecure and partied a little too hard sometimes.

The joke was necessary though. If Bonnie was calling that late at night, it meant something was up and in their lives, if something was up, it was never something good.

There was the one time though, when Bonnie called her late at night and it wasn't with bad news. Caroline had been in the South of France, and Bonnie had called her after a rather disastrous date with Kol Mikaelson. The only reason Bonnie had even agreed to go out with Klaus's persistent younger brother, was in hopes that he would leave her alone afterward. Bonnie had called to tell Caroline all about it. It had been ten at night in Virginia and three o'clock in the morning for her. Apparently Kol was harder to derail than they thought he would be, and Bonnie was stuck with the unwanted suitor. It seemed that when given an inch, he would then go for the mile.

That had been a nice and funny conversation to have in the middle of the night.

Another late night conversation had followed about a week after that. But that time it wasn't about dating disasters, but more along the lines of "we need you to come home because the original witch is back and hell bent on ending the vampire race and killing everyone we love."

That conversation had ended with a few swiftly packed bags and a red-eye back to Mystic Falls, along with an argument of why it was important she be there to help defend her friends and her town.

Caroline cringed, hoping that maybe Bonnie had gotten into some of her witchy herbs and decided to call her up for some laughs.

"Are you okay Caroline? Where are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm at the mansion. What's wrong?" Caroline noticed the edgy tone of Bonnie's voice.

"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure."

Caroline looked to her left, glancing at the man sleeping next to her. Klaus's back was to her, his body moving, as he breathed in his sleep. Vampires didn't really need to breathe, but it was a force of habit. She wasn't sure if he was awake or not. He had the tendency to always sleep with one eye open, and a little cellphone ringing would have been the equivalent of parading a marching band through the room. Still, he seemed to be asleep.

Caroline quickly slipped out of bed, carefully pulling the door open, and walking into the hallway, her phone at her ear. "Okay, spill. What's happened?"

She heard Bonnie let out a heavy sigh, the sound of her car starting in the background. "I just had a dream."

"And what happened in the dream?"

"You died." Caroline closed her eyes, trying to hold back a shudder. Bonnie's dreams weren't like other people's dreams. Sometimes they were metaphorical, but other times they were prophetic in a sense. She was glad she had decided to step out of the bedroom for this conversation. "It was probably nothing," Bonnie continued. "I was at Jeremy's looking at Hunter stuff and I fell asleep, so that's probably why I had the dream."

"Yeah," Caroline said, trying to reassure herself, too. "So you were at Jeremy's? But you aren't spending the night?"

"Caroline..."

"How does Shane feel about you still hanging around your ex?"

Bonnie scoffed. "Atticus and I are not a thing."

"Oh it's _Atticus_ now?" Caroline giggled. "Bonnie Bennett, you and all of your men."

Bonnie laughed. "You have an overly romantic imagination. Besides, you're one to talk."

"Hey," Caroline said. "I am in a committed relationship with _one_ man."

"Uh huh. But I remember a young, _human_ Caroline Forbes who was about all men, all the time." Caroline laughed. Okay so she had been a little boy crazy in the not so distant past. "I'm sorry I woke you. I'll let you get back to sleep."

"It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

She wished Bonnie a good night and pressed "end" on the phone. The screen went dark and she crept back into the bedroom, replacing it on the nightstand, and climbing back into bed. Caroline wondered if maybe she should have asked Bonnie more questions about the dream, just in case. If it was prophetic, it might help to know a few situations to avoid. As she settled in once again, a warm hand slipped over her stomach and around her waist, pulling her against the lean, hard body it belonged to.

"What's this about a dream?"

Klaus pulled her against his chest, pressing his lips to the skin at the back of her neck. Caroline hummed at the show of affection, but could feel the hint of tension in Klaus's body behind her. She should have gone further away to talk to Bonnie on the phone. Like maybe downstairs, out the door, and all the way across town so Klaus didn't hear.

"Just a dream Bonnie had," Caroline said taking his hand and lacing her fingers through his. "Nothing serious."

"If I remember correctly," Klaus said, "Bonnie Bennett's dreams are often prophetic in nature."

"Not always," Caroline said quickly, a little too quickly to be truly convincing. Klaus's fingers squeezed tight around hers, an action that probably would have crushed them, if her bones were still human. Klaus was touchy-to say the least-about the subject of her and death. It wasn't an unfounded worry with him, though. He had watched her almost die many times, and one of those times she actually _had_ died. Sort of.

Klaus grasped her chin, turning her face toward his and marking her with a thick kiss. Heat flared in her stomach, shooting out along her veins, and spreading through the rest of her body. His hands were skimming down her sides and up the hem of her tank top.

"Don't go tomorrow," Klaus murmured into her lips.

"Klaus," Caroline said with a chastising tone. They had already discussed the weekend trip that she would be going on the next day. She and Elena and Rebekah were heading out for some camping and good-old-fashion girl bonding, to help Elena learn to hunt from someone who wasn't Stefan or Damon. "We already talked about this."

He squeezed at her breast and Caroline's argument became a heady moan. Just as she thought things were about to get good, Klaus removed himself and got up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Downstairs," Klaus replied, pulling on a pair of pants and shuffling to the door. He disappeared before she could ask anything else.

He was upset.

Caroline rolled back in Klaus's large bed, staring up at the ceiling. Maybe she should be thinking of it as their bed, she mused as her eyes followed the crown moulding around the perimeter of the room. It seemed that way, since she slept there almost every night. But, she hadn't technically moved in with him. There was no way her mom would be okay with her eighteen-year-old daughter moving in with her thousand year old boyfriend, when she hadn't even graduated high school yet. Immortal being or not, that just would not fly with Liz Forbes.

There was also the whole keeping up appearances thing. To Mystic Falls, she was Caroline Forbes: high school student, sheriff's daughter, head cheerleader. Klaus was Klaus Mikaelson: mysterious foreign guy, who paid a lot of money to the town, lived in a huge mansion just outside city limits, and looked to be in his early thirties, which meant too old to be carrying on with some girl still in high school. Even though Mystic Falls was filled with vampires and supernatural beings, they weren't exactly common knowledge. She bit her lip. Even without the technicalities, Caroline sometimes wondered if their age gap should be more of an issue. Then again, he did have the tendency to act like a child.

The bed now seemed even larger than usual, without Klaus laying there next to her. She rolled over, grabbing his pillow and pressing her face into it. She inhaled, enjoying the smell of Klaus on the pillow, a fresh, wood sort of of scent mixed with a sweet refinement that encompassed who he was as a man.

They had slept in many beds together over the past few months. Beds in Italy and France and England, but those beds never retained the familiar smells of home. It was such a human thing, she thought, to appreciate how things smelled. Caroline smiled, as she inhaled deeply, hugging the pillow tight against her chest. She liked the little moments that reminded her of her humanity.

After a tossing a bit in bed, trying to go back to sleep, she looked over at the clock and decided to venture downstairs in search of Klaus.

The Mikaelson Mansion was large, by far the largest house in Mystic Falls. It had an old world splendor about it, that was appropriate considering that it housed the oldest family in history. Caroline often felt odd and out of place being in such a grand house. It wasn't like a normal home, that was filled with family pictures, odd knick-knacks, and cozy furniture. It was large and spacious, cold like a museum, and decorated like one, too.

The original house on that particular patch of land had been a more modest, two-story Georgian colonial home, built just a decade before Virginia had seceded from the Union. Caroline had seen a picture of it in an old book during a historical preservation society meeting she had attended once during her campaign for Miss Mystic Falls. After a long life of storm damage, renovations, and different families and town committees adding on to it, it had become one of the grandest houses in the entire town. Probably the entire state. Since Klaus had renovated, the mansion now housed a library and a grand ballroom; one that Caroline had had her eye on, with visions of prom running through her head, already planning the ways she could convince Klaus to let it happen.

She padded barefoot down the dark corridor from Klaus's bedroom, in her cotton pajama set. When she had first started spending time there, she felt like she needed to be perfectly dressed all the time, like it was an insult to the house to flit around barefoot and in t-shirts. But after a couple weeks, she started to get used to it. It didn't exactly feel like home to her, but she was comfortable enough.

Her hand held onto the smooth rail of the grand staircase as she continued on in search of Klaus. The marble floor was cool under her feet, and she turned in the direction of one of the many sitting rooms in the house. Klaus had taken this particular one over as his own personal art studio. He spent most of his days there, now that they had settled in Mystic Falls again, staving off boredom while Caroline went back to high school.

A dim orange glow bled from the room and as she grew closer, she could hear the faint sound of bristles scratching against canvas. She paused in the doorway, watching Klaus's back as he painted, gripping a chip brush between his fingers and leaving delicate, brushy strokes across the canvas. On the table next to him was a bottle of scotch paired with a small, lowball glass; a hint of the amber liquid lingered at the bottom.

"I know you're there, love," Klaus said, not turning to face her. He set the brush down into a glass jar filled with a cloudy liquid.

"I wasn't trying to hide," she replied stepping into the room. "Why don't you come back to bed?"

"I felt a surge of sudden inspiration" Klaus stated, gesturing toward his painting.

Caroline narrowed her eyes skeptically, walking over and perching herself on the free space on top of the table by him. "Uh-huh. Sure."

He was evading, as usual. She would have to attack head on.

"It was just a dream Klaus," Caroline said. "It doesn't mean anything. This weekend will be fine. We'll be in hotels and spas and just doing girl stuff, with a little hunting on the side. Nothing is going to happen."

Klaus sat the brush down, picking up his glass of bourbon. "You don't know that."

"Neither do you," Caroline argued. "There isn't any point in driving yourself crazy over it."

"We should leave Mystic Falls," Klaus said.

"We can't do that. I have to help Elena and Stefan needs me and graduation is so close..."

Klaus sneered. "You've already given enough to Elena Gilbert."

"I know you're new to the whole idea of friendship, but that's not really how it works."

He scowled at her, knocking back the rest of the liquid in the glass. She knew his anger wasn't directed at her, but at her loyalty to her friends. The issue had become a frequent point of contingency between them, especially when Klaus deemed that she was putting her life at unnecessary risk, which was always.

"But if I wasn't so loyal to my friends then I probably wouldn't have let Bonnie do that time travel spell on me and then I never would have fallen in love with you." She liked to remind him of this anytime he brought it up.

"You don't think in some alternate reality I'm not trying to convince you to take a chance on me?" he would always retort smugly.

Caroline sighed, letting her legs swing under the table. "What are we even arguing about right now?" she asked. "Something that may or may not even happen or even be important."

Klaus walked over to her and stood between her legs, putting his forehead against hers. Caroline wrapped her arms around his waist, closing her eyes.

"You're important, Caroline," Klaus said with his eyes closed, too. His voice was quiet, his words delicate, secret. "There is nothing more important to me, than you."

Caroline pulled away and opened her eyes to look down at him, his sincerity marked in the lines of his face. She traced a finger over his brow thinking about all those centuries that he thought her dead and gone forever, after he watched Mikael kill her in 1492. Klaus hadn't known then that her death had simply reversed the magic that Bonnie had used on her and sent her back to her original time. Instead, he had spent centuries thinking he would never be with her again.

"I'm right here," she whispered to him. "I love you."

Klaus opened his eyes and looked back at her, cupping her face in his hands and running his thumbs across her face. There were times when he was rough with her, when he acknowledged her strength and would throw her against a wall with total abandon, kissing her until she saw stars. Then there were other times, like now, when he would hold her like she would shatter at any second. Like a small, delicate doll that might break if he dared let it out of its glass case.

"Come on," Klaus said taking her hands and pulling her off the table. "Let's go up to bed."

Caroline nodded and let him lead her back upstairs. As soon as his door was shut, Klaus began kissing her-slow and languid nips at her lips, a kindling for the constant fire she felt for him. They stood together, next to the bed and began to strip each other bare, marking each second with tiny kisses and caresses. Once they were both naked, Klaus pushed Caroline back against the bed. He climbed his way slowly up her body, trailing a path of wet kisses up her calf, the edge of her knee, the tops of her thighs. She could feel her core throbbing, anticipating his touch.

Her body always responded to him like this. He could have her writhing in seconds, begging for him. She hated and loved this power he had over her. Klaus ghosted his lips across her silken folds, making her whimper for his touch. He smirked at the tiny sound, and then ran his tongue across her clit. Her fingers tangled into the sheets as he lapped at her, his fingers stroking her inner walls as his tongue flicked over her swollen clit.

Orgasm crashed over her, electrifying her body. She called out his name breathlessly as he continued to stroke her through the aftershocks. Before she had time to recover, Klaus moved over her, rocking into her and entering her to the hilt. His lips touched hers as he began to move inside of her, their breaths merging together.

Caroline grasped at him, her body needy and begging as she listened to the tiny whisper of her name tumbling from his lips. Her earlier worries still tickled the corner of her mind, though. In spite of his fervent touches, the way he looked at her, the way he made her feel and all of the other things he said, there was still one thing bothering her. It wasn't the dream, or its possible meanings. No, it was the fact that that night was the fifth time Caroline had said "I love you" to Klaus out loud, and he hadn't said it back.

* * *

**So what'd you think? Ready for the next part of this story?**

**Okay, all my notes:**

**One) A lot of you readers noted in your _Timeless_ reviews that Klaus never said "I love you" to Caroline by the end of the story. Which was very purposeful on my part...and I'm bring that back in this story. **

**Two) Again, forget everything you know about canon. I took canon, chewed it up and spit it out and created something different. Most of my reasoning for writing this story comes from being wholly unsatisfied with Season 4 of TVD. So I'm doing things my way, which also means that unlike when I was writing _Timeless_, I'm not going to go back and carefully watch the episodes so I can keep the details straight. Basically, just forget canon, you'll be less confused that way.**

**Three) Enjoy the Klaroline action in this chapter. If you think it was a little quick for some fluff and smut well...you won't be saying that soon ;)**

**Thanks to Kady aka Klausykins who had jumped on board once again as my beta. **

**xoxo**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo! Thanks to everyone who has jumped back on board with the story! I'm stoked to see the excitement for the sequel. I'm updating again this week, just so we can hurry up and start to get into the action of the story.**

**This chapter should help explain a few things like "what's up with the rest of the original siblings" and "what's going on with team cure?"**

**So yeah...again, ignore canon. Canon is not good, canon is not wise. ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**p.s. thanks to Klausykins for the beta work!**

* * *

"Does Damon say "I love you'?" Caroline asked Elena.

They were inside Caroline's navy Honda, an early graduation gift from her father, heading out of town on their last minute planned "Girls' Weekend". They passed the Welcome to Mystic Falls sign, heading northeast, the large, wooden sign bidding them farewell and hoping they would visit again soon. The back of the car was filled with luggage, packed with swimsuits, dresses, and other girly weekend vacation items that they wouldn't be using.

Elena's eyebrows shot up. "You're asking me about my relationship with Damon?"

Caroline gave a little shrug as she increased the car's speed, now that they were outside the city limits. So she hadn't been the most receptive person when she heard about Elena and Damon getting together less than a day after Elena's breakup with Stefan. She was a _little_ biased though. Stefan, other than Elena and Bonnie, was her best friend. But, again, so was Elena. It was weird being caught in the middle, but Caroline had to put her foot down and speak her mind about how wrong she thought Damon was for Elena. However, Bonnie had reminded her how accepting their friend had been with the whole Klaus thing, and Caroline begrudgingly changed her tune.

"Well Stefan, I can see being super romantic," Caroline replied. "Damon just doesn't seem like the type to be all moonlight and roses and epic declarations of love."

Caroline thought maybe it was just a guy thing. Some guys said I love you, and some didn't. She may not have enjoyed the idea of Damon and Elena's relationship, but she couldn't deny that Damon loved Elena, in his own overbearing, caveman sort of way.

Elena's lip curved, amused at Caroline's not very well hidden dislike of the relationship. "Well, Damon's different than Stefan, but yeah, he tells me he loves me. All the time," she answered. "Is there a particular reason you ask?"

"No, no reason. Just trying to be supportive of your relationship," Caroline said, deciding to be evasive. Maybe boy talk wasn't such a great idea. She didn't want to give Elena any reason to hate Klaus again, considering that she had finally moved up to simply disliking him. At Elena's answer, Caroline felt a sense of dejection again. Somehow she had thought if Damon wasn't an I-love-you sort of guy, then it would make her feel better if Klaus hadn't said it.

"We're still meeting Rebekah at the hotel?"

"Yep," Caroline nodded. "We're all checking in together and then we'll head out to the airport. Shane and Bonnie will take care of the charter plane."

"You mean Rebekah doesn't have a private family jet?" Elena quipped.

Caroline laughed. "Even if they did, we probably couldn't use it. I'm sure anybody who staffed the flight would be compelled by Klaus to report back about _anything_ we did." She tried to keep the annoyance at Klaus's autocratic nature out of her tone.

Caroline had also made a rule that no-boyfriend calls were allowed over the weekend. Maybe she had taken it one step too far, and veered close to suspicious behavior, but she was taking into account the long plane ride and the hours on the island when they might not have cell reception. If any of the guys called, hopefully they would assume that the girls were just ignoring them in favor of female bonding.

"What if he calls the hotel looking for us?"

"That's why we're actually checking in and meeting in the room," Caroline reminded her. "And Rebekah will take care of compelling a few desk employees, just in case."

Elena nodded, impressed with Caroline's planning. Caroline was proud of herself, too. It wasn't often that she got to use her organizationl and control freak skills for something like this. It was actually fun.

The only part she hated was lying to Klaus.

Klaus was completely against finding the cure. Well, no that wasn't _exactly_ true, Klaus wanted to find the cure and then destroy it. He wouldn't admit it, but Caroline knew that Klaus viewed the cure as a potential weakness. As highly unlikely as it might be, what was to stop someone from shoving it down his throat and killing him? There was also Rebekah. She _wanted_ to take the cure. She wanted to be human again, and Klaus, being the controlling man that he was, wasn't willing to let that happen. That was how Rebekah had ended up on their side of things.

"So, have you heard from Tyler lately?" Elena asked.

"No," Caroline replied. "He's too busy hanging out with his wolf friend, _Hayley_." Hayley had arrived in Mystic Falls sometime while Caroline and Klaus had been out of the country. Caroline had met her by chance one day when she stopped by to visit Tyler and see how he was doing. The girl was a new friend Tyler had met while he had spent some time in Tennessee during his early werewolf days. He had lost touch with her after becoming a hybrid, but she had managed to track him down in Mystic Falls and carry on their friendship. Although, Caroline had some suspicion that there was more than friendship going on with the two of them, considering the mean girl dagger glare Hayley kept sending her way every time they crossed paths. "They're still in Tennessee, I guess."

Elena became quiet, and Caroline mentally chided herself. The whole reason Tyler went with Hayley to Tennessee was because of Chris, their now dead hybrid friend who Klaus had sacrificed so that Elena would be free of the Hunter's curse. It was a terrible thing and they both felt a little guilty once it was over. Caroline had realized it too late the next day, when she had gone to see Tyler and he and Hayley had been sitting around the Lockwood mansion, getting drunk, and mourning the loss of their friend. Caroline hadn't taken into account how close Tyler had become with the other hybrids while she had been traveling. She had begged him to try and see that they had done it to save Elena, _their_ friend, but Tyler had told her that Chris had been a friend, _to him._

Wanting to avoid another trip down the guilt road, Caroline scoffed."It was full moon last weekend so they probably stayed for a little camping trip in the mountains. _Hayley, _probably talked him into changing with her or something."

"I like how you say 'Hayley' as if that's not her real name," Elena laughed.

"There's something about her, that's just so-" Caroline couldn't think of a word, so instead she made a nasty face accompanied by a firm, "Ugh!"

"Is it because she's dating your ex?"

"Tyler and I weren't ever really together," Caroline said. "But I don't know, we used to be good friends until _she_ came along."

"You used to be good friends until _Klaus_ came along," Elena muttered. Caroline shot Elena a look and she put her hands up in surrender. "I should call Jeremy and check in. Make sure he and Damon aren't planning on coming back early."

Damon had taken Jeremy up to the Gilbert lake house to give him some hunter control training. Since killing Klaus's hybrid, to break the hunter's curse for Elena after she had killed Connor, Jeremy had turned into a full-fledged hunter himself. The downside was that he now possessed a pathological hate of vampires, which included his sister. After a couple of failed attempts at killing her, they decided that he might need some time away from Mystic Falls.

"How's he doing?"

"Good," Elena said, attempting to sound as positive as she could. "I mean he hates Damon and has managed not to kill him, so hopefully that means he'll be fine around me."

Caroline gave her an encouraging smile. Jeremy was the only family Elena had left now. It was hard on her, being separated from her brother, and powerless to help him. It was yet another reason why they still needed to find the cure. Elena needed to be human again, for her brother, and for Stefan, and most of all for herself.

She had been so strong through everything. Caroline knew how hard it was to transition, but Elena didn't seem to be acclimating as well to a life of vampirism. There were times when Caroline saw something in her oldest friend that frightened her a little. She knew that being a vampire amplified who a person already was, but sometimes it seemed like Elena had become someone else entirely. That reaffirmed her conviction that Elena just _had_ to become human again. They had to find the cure, no matter if it meant telling a few tiny lies to Klaus. They would find it, let Elena take it, along with anyone else they knew who wanted to, and then get rid of it.

"Hey Jer, how's it going?" Elena said into her phone.

Caroline focused on the road again, smiling at the affectionate and hopeful note in Elena's voice. Everything would be fine, as long as they all stayed positive. She renewed her vow to help her friend find that cure, no matter what it took.

* * *

Klaus was in his drawing room, pouring out the last of the scotch he had opened the night before into a lowball glass. He had seen Caroline off over an hour ago, his last minute persuasion techniques having done nothing to convince her to spend the weekend at home. He smirked, licking his lips as he recalled their morning in that very room, taking her from behind, reminding her of what she would be missing while she was gone and hoping that it would inspire her to come back sooner.

Now that he had some free time on his hands, Klaus had returned to his painting, finding a source of serenity in his creation. He still couldn't clamp down on the eerie feeling of dread that had crept up after he had overheard Caroline's conversation with Bonnie Bennett the night before. He wasn't so quick to dismiss the dream as Caroline had been.

"Well isn't this nice...you here finger painting, while I'm out doing all the hard work." Klaus turned to see his younger brother, Kol, entering the room. He hopped down the two short steps, his brown hair flopping onto his forehead as he moved. "Or is it that you've become old and boring now, acclimating to small town life with your girlfriend and need your younger brother to do your dirty work?"

Kol's eyebrows flicked up teasingly, as he grabbed himself an extra glass from the small bar by the window and poured himself a drink. A dusty bottle of tequila was his choice from the small cabinet, a nod to his recent stay south of the border.

"I didn't undagger you for your commentary," Klaus said.

"No," Kol replied, replacing the bottle. "You undaggered me because you needed my help to stop our mother from killing our entire family, and the whole of the vampire race."

"I could have awoken Finn," Klaus countered.

Kol dropped into one of the green easy chairs, kicking his feet up on the small table in front of it. "Finn's a dullard. Plus, you know he would have been right behind mother in her plotting. He hates being a vampire."

Klaus agreed with that. Their elder brother had been somewhat of a problem to their survival, so for the time being, he remained encased. "What did you find in Mexico?"

"Nothing of note," Kol reported. "Nothing about Qetsiyah or Silas or any immortality legends. I compelled what I could out of a few shamans, but interestingly, some of them are finding ways to fight compulsion. The human race is evolving in the most unlikely of places."

"So for now young Jeremy Gilbert is the only possible map to Silas and the cure," Klaus mused.

"Precisely," Kol said. "If he keeps killing vampires, his mark will be completed and the Salvatores, Elena Gilbert, and whoever else is sick of being a vampire will have their shot at humanity."

Klaus took another sip of his drink, rolling the liquid around inside of his mouth. The taste of it was bitter, just like the thoughts in his head. He regretted not taking care of the problem of the cure sooner, finding it and destroying it the first time he had ever heard it existed. However, he didn't think the effort was needed, after he destroyed The Five. They were dead and so were their secrets. But they had lived on and now his carelessness had come back to haunt him.

"And what about Damon and Jeremy? What of their little _bonding_ trip?" When Klaus had sent Kol to Mexico, to find out what he could from old Aztec legends, he had him make a stop at the Gilbert lake house on his way back, to spy on the elder Salvatore and the new hunter, ensuring that he hadn't taken the boy on a vampire killing spree in order to complete the mark.

"Nothing but boring training exercises in self control," Kol sighed. "They've taken that blonde with them. The quarterback. The commoner our sister is always making eyes at. I honestly don't know what she sees there."

"Good," Klaus said, not caring about Kol's comments about their sister and Matt Donovan. Klaus knew that the Donovan boy was a former suitor of Caroline's, so if his eyes were firmly fixed away from Caroline and on his sister, it was all the better. Rebekah would tire of him eventually, or he would disappoint her and she would kill him. That was always the story with his sister.

"I could always tear the boy's arms off," Kol suggested, with a gleam in his eye. "We avoid the Hunter's curse and guarantee that the map can never be revealed."

"I'll keep that in mind," Klaus smirked. It wasn't necessary, though. The only reason Jeremy hadn't completed the mark was because Elena had forbidden Damon Salvatore from taking steps to do so. She didn't want to risk fully losing her brother to the hunter fighting for control within him. "I'm thinking that it might actually be time to help the boy along and finish the mark."

Kol burst into laughter. "You must be joking." Klaus gave him a hard look, indicating that he was not joking in the slightest, and Kol sobered instantly. "Nik, I thought we were on the same side. That it will unleash Hell on Earth if Silas is awakened."

"Then we don't wake him up," Klaus replied.

"You know if we go poking around Silas's tomb, someone could follow in our tracks," Kol warned. Kol had been adamant against finding the cure the moment it had been suggested. The youngest Mikaelson man had spent a considerable amount of time with witches over the centuries, befriending them, learning their legends and histories-he had a soft spot for their kind. He also shared in their fear of what would happen should Silas ever be awakened.

"We have to eliminate the cure," Klaus said.

Kol leaned forward, studying his brother carefully. "No. No this is about something else. Your eye is doing that twitchy sort of thing it does when you're lying," Kol rolled his jaw back and forth as he considered the possibilities. "This is about Caroline."

Klaus gave nothing away, turning from the room and heading toward the stairs. But Kol wouldn't let it go. He followed.

"You think she would want to take the cure? You know her, Nik. She's not like her dull friends. She's embraced being a vampire. She's one of us."

"Of course I know that," Klaus replied, mounting the stairs.

"Well, you can't be worried about someone using the cure to get to you. Otherwise, you would leave well enough alone," Kol continued behind him and down the corridor where the bedrooms were located. The master bedroom, which belonged to Klaus, was at the very end of the hall. "We've already acknowledged that you'd be an idiot if you mess with Silas so that leaves..." Kol stopped, the realization dawning on him. "Qetsiyah. You want to get to her." Klaus paused in the hallway, keeping his back to his brother. This was the problem with reuniting his family. They all had known him for too long. They were each too adept at calling his bluff.

"You want the immortality spell," Kol continued. "For Caroline. So it _is_ about her."

Klaus let out a breath. "It isn't worth it, Nik, risking the Hell that would be unleashed if something goes wrong and Silas is awoken."

Klaus's eyes darkened with memories of the past. "You don't understand."

"I like Caroline, but she's just a girl. There will be others-"

Kol was cut off when Klaus rounded on him, flashing over and pushing him against the wall by his throat. The bones of Kol's shoulders cracked from the impact, the paintings on the wall by him bouncing and crashing into the floor.

"Listen to me," Klaus said through his teeth. His eyes flashed, werewolf yellow. "You don't know what it's like. You don't know what I've been through. You flirt with women and you bed them and you do as you like but you've never..."

"Loved someone?" Kol choked out. "Have you, Nik? Do you _really_ love her? Or is she just another obsession?" Kol's hand caught Klaus's wrist, snapping it and breaking his hold. He moved away quickly, back to the stairs, a safe distance away. "You don't have her ghost or doppelgangers to chase anymore, so now it's this? And what will it cost our family this time? Not to mention the rest of existence, for some girl."

"Caroline is not just _some_ girl."

"Are you in love with her? Because if you are then why can't you even tell her?"

Klaus glared. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" Kol crossed back toward him. "I heard you both last night. You can't even return her 'I love you's'. Such a simple way of expressing how you feel, and you're even not capable of three little words. So don't stand here and tell me that she's worth all of our lives because she's-"

Klaus darted forward and snapped Kol's neck, ending his speech. Kol's body dropped like a stone to the floor. Klaus stood over his brother's still body, which had flopped down at an awkward angle next to the stairs. He knelt beside him.

"I'm sorry brother, but I can't have your paranoia interfering with my plans." Klaus picked up Kol's body and brought it downstairs, to the cellar, where he still stored the coffins that had housed his siblings on and off over the years. He set Kol down to open the silver box and then placed him inside, picking up a dagger off the shelf and dipping it into the small vial of white ash beside it. Slowly, he sank the blade into Kol's heart, watching his brother's skin turn gray. "It's only for a few days. You won't even realize any time has passed at all."

Without lingering or a chance for regret, Klaus shut the coffin and ran upstairs to fetch his jacket and phone.

"You know Rebekah is going to rip out your throat for daggering Kol again," Klaus heard the voice of Stefan Salvatore coming from his parlor. He switched directions, entering the room, and seeing the younger vampire helping himself to a glass of bourbon.

"Yes, well my sister is already angry with me for preventing her from finding the cure. What's one more thing? Now if you'll excuse me..." Klaus looked down at his phone, checking the time. He had to get on the road soon.

"I came to find out why you had Kol stalking my brother and Jeremy at the lake house," Stefan said, causing Klaus to stop and turn back. "Kol wasn't exactly discreet when he showed up."

Klaus smirked. "Just wanted to check in."

"And make sure they aren't on a vampire killing spree to finish his Hunter's mark and lead them to the cure?" Stefan asked. "Which I assume they haven't, or you wouldn't be in such a good mood."

Klaus opened his mouth to retort, but watched the emotion play over the former ripper's face. There was a second of disappointment there before the mask of neutrality was replaced. "Is that disappointment I see? You were hoping that your brother would do the dirty work for you and coerce the Gilbert boy into completing the mark," Klaus chuckled. "Not willing to get your hands dirty. That's not the ripper I remember."

"The ripper you remember never cared about disappointing anyone," Stefan said, gulping back the rest of his drink.

Klaus moved forward and took the bottle of bourbon, pouring himself a glass, now that it appeared that Stefan wouldn't be so easy to dismiss. "That's the difference between you and me," he said.

Stefan's brows shot up. "You're telling me you wouldn't care if Caroline hated you for something awful you did?"

"No. Not if it means her safety." Klaus took a long sip of his drink. "So, I have good news for you. I _want_ Jeremy Gilbert to complete his mark. I'm going to make a trip to the Gilbert lake house and help them along."

"Damon's there to protect him, so is Matt."

Klaus shrugged. "I imagine Damon will need less convincing to go along with the plan, and I dare the Donovan boy to cross me."

Stefan laughed, crossing his arms. "So the girls are away and you planned to sneak off and have Jeremy kill a bunch of vampires to complete his mark so you can find the cure, destroy it, and make it back before they realize what's happened?"

Klaus nodded. "Precisely. Something tells me Damon and I will see eye to eye on the matter."

Stefan's eyes narrowed. "But you just want to destroy it. Why would Damon be eager about helping you find it?"

"Because we've all tried to find a way about using the Gilbert boy as a map, and there seems to be no other path. Once the mark is revealed, it will be a race to see who can get there first. It's the only shot at Elena getting her humanity back. I'm sure Damon will be willing to take the gamble." Klaus set his empty glass on the table. "If you'd like, you can remain here, in Mystic Falls, where you will be absolved of any blame from what may happen to the Jeremy Gilbert." Stefan glanced to the side, his jaw ticking in consideration. "I don't have all day."

"I'll go," Stefan said. "Someone needs to keep you and Damon in line."

Klaus laughed. "Well my friend, you can certainly try."

* * *

A few hours later, Caroline and Elena arrived at their hotel in Norfolk. Bonnie would be meeting them later with Shane and Rebekah had promised she would be along behind them, once she had taken care of her prom committee duties at school. In Caroline's absence, it seemed that Rebekah had taken over as Mystic Falls High School's social queen bee, something that annoyed Caroline a bit when she had made the decision to return for the rest of the school year.

They checked in at the hotel and their bags were brought upstairs. It was a nice suite, two adjoined rooms, each with two queen sized beds. The bathrooms were equipped with jacuzzi tubs and there was a fully stocked wet bar for them to share. Caroline let out a little sigh. It was such a shame that it would all go to waste.

"Okay ladies," she called their attention. Rebekah had arrived, an hour after them. She was on the white couch, flipping through a magazine, while Elena indulged in some mindless TV. Both of them seem to be ignoring each other's existence. They hadn't exactly become best friends over the past few weeks. Truth be told, Caroline wasn't always sure that Rebekah even like _her_ that much. "We need to get downstairs."

Elena looked at the time. "I thought we were meeting Shane and Bonnie at dusk," she said.

"I booked us three complete spa packages," Caroline said. Elena and Rebekah made twin looks of surprise and disbelief. "What? I wasn't going to let this _entire_ weekend go to waste." Plus, she had thought, if Klaus went even further to check on them he would notice the charge on his credit card. Caroline mentally patted herself on the back, all her bases were covered and she was feeling like quite the mastermind.

* * *

Klaus stood outside of the Gilbert lake house, while Stefan was looking around inside. Because the ownership had passed to Jeremy after Elena's death, it was still under human protection, which meant as a vampire he wasn't allowed inside. Stefan, however, had retained an invitation. Klaus didn't need to go inside the house to figure out that Damon, Jeremy, and the Donovan boy were no longer there.

Stefan walked out to where he was. "They _were_ here," he said, dejected," but they're gone now."

Klaus's jaw ticked. "Where do you think they went?"

Stefan looked out at the lake. The sun was going down, it would be dark soon. "I don't know."

"You aren't having second thoughts, are you?" Klaus suggested.

"What are you talking about?"

"Perhaps you warned your brother of our impending arrival."

"I've been with you since Mystic Falls. When would I have had time to warn Damon about anything?" Stefan replied with some annoyance. "Besides, you said it yourself, I'm not exactly _against_ the idea of helping Jeremy complete his mark." Stefan flipped open his phone, dialing Damon's number. It rang a few times and went to voicemail. Next he dialed Matt, who answered on the second ring.

"I brought Jeremy back a couple hours ago," Matt explained. "Damon said he had something to check out."

"Did he say what it was?" Stefan asked.

"No," Matt said. "He doesn't usually share any of his thoughts with me."

"Well that's that," Stefan said once he had hung up the phone. "Jeremy is back in Mystic Falls now. I don't think we're going to be able to convince him to leave again to go out and kill a bunch of vampires. Especially if Matt is on guard duty."

Klaus headed back to his SUV, jerking open the driver's side door, almost ripping it off. A feeling in his stomach told him that things were not as they should be. It was an instinct he had learned to trust and rely on over the centuries. He considered the circumstances-Damon and Jeremy cutting their trip short, Damon running off without a word to anyone including his brother, and all of the girls gone for the weekend. Everyone had an alibi. Bonnie Bennett was studying with her Professor Shane. Caroline, Elena, and his sister were having a girls bonding trip. It was perfect. _Too perfect_.

As soon as Stefan shut his door, Klaus turned the ignition and stepped on the gas, heading back to the highway.

"Find out where Damon is," Klaus barked, gunning down the road, the arrow on his speedometer sailing past eighty.

"He's not answering."

"Keep trying," he snapped.

Stefan dialed twice more, still getting his voicemail. He watched the signs on the road, noticing that they were headed in the opposite direction of Mystic Falls. "Where are we going?"

"Norfolk," Klaus answered.

"Girls weekend?"

Klaus nodded once. "I think there is more to this weekend trip than we were led to believe."

* * *

Three hours later, the trio was massaged and pampered and feeling relaxed. The tension had even melted a bit between Rebekah and Elena. They got back to the room, and decided to order some room service. They still had another hour before they needed to meet Shane and Bonnie and board their plane to Nova Scotia. It was fortunate that Shane had a pilot's licence and a friend with a plane large enough for all of them.

In the middle of enjoying some delicious double fudge brownies, Caroline's phone rang, Bonnie's name flashing on the screen.

"What's up, Bon?"

"Bad news," Bonnie said on the other line. Caroline's stomach sunk.

"Is something wrong with the plane?"

"No, the plane is all set to go. Shane's almost done with pre-flight checks. There's something else."

Rebekah and Elena, overhearing the conversation, passed worried glances in her direction. "Just spit it out, Bonnie."

"Jeremy called me," she said. "Him and Matt and Damon left the lake house early. They're already back in Mystic Falls."

Caroline was up off the couch now, pacing back and forth. "Okay, this is okay," she said. "So they cut their trip short? No reason for us to panic. They'll just be in Mystic Falls while we're gone instead of at the lake."

"Only one problem."

"What's that?"

"Damon didn't go back with them."

Caroline gritted her teeth. There was a knock at the door, and all three heads snapped in the direction of the sound. "I'll call you right back. We'll leave as soon as possible."

She hung up and the knock sounded again, causing Caroline to gulp. She passed a glance at Rebekah and Elena.

Caroline walked toward the door, debating halfway if they should just try to jump out the balcony and make a run for it. It was six stories, but they were vampires, they would survive. She wrapped her hand around the knob, trying to decide whose face she would least like to see on the other side. She did realize that she could have been overreacting. Maybe it was just the hotel staff, a maid, or a manger coming by to offer them a last minute upgrade.

She pulled on the handle and opened it up. Her stomach sunk even further as she was met with a pair of flaming, blue eyes.

"Room service, ladies?"

* * *

**So, apologies if this was a lot of boring exposition/explanation about what's going on in the TVD world in my story. Also, SUPER APOLOGIES, for daggering Kol. I know you guys hate me right now, but Klaus made me do it. But, if it makes you super sad I will let you in on a little secret...he will be back!**

**Hopefully this chapter kinda clears up what's going on with Klaus's motivations, and Caroline's as well as Elena's, Damon's, and Rebekah's. Again, there is no sire bond in my world. I'll forever think that was stupid. There may be a few things that didn't quite get answered, but it should be clear by the next chapter.**

**Oh and just so you know, Elijah is undaggered as well. He's just...not around. Wonder where he could be? ;)**

**Thanks again for reading :) **

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sure I'm overdue for an update. I know I'm already off on my originally intended update schedule. Please forgive me :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

.

"What the hell are you three thinking?" Damon demanded, storming into their hotel room.

Caroline shut the door behind him. "Damon, what are you doing here? It's supposed to be girls weekend." She wasn't giving anything away. There was a chance that Damon didn't know their plan. Maybe he was just there checking up on them and would leave as soon as he saw that they were at the hotel having legitimate girl time.

"Cut the crap, Barbie," Damon snapped. "I know you three aren't here on a little, girly getaway. You're going after the cure. _Alone_."

Caroline crossed her arms. "How'd you figure that out?"

"Please, it's a little obvious. I'm surprised your hybrid boyfriend hasn't already beaten me to the punch and dragged you back to Mystic Falls kicking and screaming." Damon crossed over to the bar, rummaging through the selection until he found a small bottle of Jack Daniels. He immediately opened it up and dumped the contents into one of the glasses on top of the counter, knocking it back. "How'd you guys find it?"

"Bonnie was able to do a reverse memory spell on Shane," Elena chimed in. "She broke through whatever magic was preventing him from seeing the island and found the way."

"So the four of you and Professor Creepy were just going to flit off to some deserted island by yourselves? Don't you remember the catastrophe you three caused the last time you thought it was a good idea to put your heads together?"

Damon was referring, of course, to the time travel spell. "Hey, it all worked out," Caroline said.

"Because of sheer luck or fate or whatever," Damon retorted. "That doesn't count."

"Don't be sexist," Rebekah interjected, walking forward and entering the conversation. "Besides, what do you have against us finding the cure? Do you not want Elena to have it?"

It was a low blow. Damon's conflicted emotions about Elena and the cure flashed across his face. "It's not about what I want," he answered, giving Elena a pointed look.

She stepped forward and took his hand. "So come with us, help us," she pleaded.

The crystal eyed vampire shook his head, pouring a second helping of whiskey. "I should call Klaus."

"So what are you scared of Klaus now?" It was Caroline's turn for the low blow. She knew Damon valued his pride. He was stubborn, just like the rest of them, and he hated taking orders or having to answer to anyone. Most of all, her boyfriend.

"Please, Damon," Elena repeated, once again going for the softer approach. Caroline could see a silent conversation passing between the two of them. A look from Damon that said _if this is what you want, I'll do it for you. _It made her feel a little envious of her friend's relationship dynamic.

"Fine," he relented at last. "Besides, someone needs to come along and keep you all in line."

Caroline laughed, grateful and relieved that Damon wasn't going to blow the whistle on them after all. "Well, you can try."

* * *

.

They met up with Bonnie and Shane at the small airport, who were both surprised to see that Damon had joined the group. Luckily-or maybe unluckily-there was just enough room to take Damon as a passenger. Caroline, Elena, Rebekah, and Damon all took seats in the back of the plane, while Bonnie joined Shane in the front, taking the co-pilot's chair. The sun had just dipped into the horizon as the plane took off from the small runway and lifted into the air. Most of their belongings had been left back at the hotel. They had only taken what was necessary, unsure if they would be able to find the cure right away, or if they would be camping on the island. Caroline didn't relish the idea of sleeping in the woods. She was definitely an indoor girl.

They had four hours of being in the air ahead of them. The night sky was clear, just a few wisps of clouds ghosting over the wings of the aircraft. Caroline looked over at Elena and Damon, curled up together. Elena had rested her head on Damon's shoulder closing her eyes and dozing off. Damon's arm was wrapped around her, his head turned in the direction of the window, his eyes staring out at the starry night.

He didn't have to say it, but Caroline knew that deep down Damon didn't want Elena to be human again. Not really. Not if it meant her feelings changing once again, and possibly turning back to Stefan. Not if it meant having her be a fragile, mortal girl again. Not if it meant having to watch her grow old and one day die.

Caroline glanced down at her phone in her lap. She hadn't heard from Klaus all day. It seemed odd to her that he hadn't called her to check in, even though she had outlawed it. They were too high in the air for her to get any cell service. She wondered if he was trying to contact her at that moment, his calls rolling to her voicemail.

"Having second thoughts?" Rebekah asked from the seat next to her. "Don't be scared of my brother. You know you have him wrapped around your finger."

"I'm not scared of _him_," Caroline said. "I'm scared he'll never forgive me."

"For what? What are you doing that is so terrible?"

"For deceiving him. For going behind his back."

"It's not like he hasn't been doing the same to you. Besides, he'll forget all about it once you tell him you destroyed the cure. Once he sees you're home safe."

"Yeah, but he won't be happy that I helped you become human," she sighed. "Why _do_ you want to be human again so much?"

"I want a life. A normal life, free of running and killing. I want to fall in love and marry and have babies and watch them grow up as I grow old. I want to appreciate my days as a gift instead of dreading them like a never ending curse."

"But what about your family? Aren't you worried they'll miss you?"

Rebekah let out a sad laugh. "Well considering Kol and Elijah ran off the first chance they got I expect they'll be able to move on with their lives once I'm gone for good."

"Klaus would care," Caroline countered timidly.

"Yes, but, he has you," Rebekah said. "Honestly, I wouldn't do this if he didn't. But I know you'll take care of him."

"I don't know how _I _would take care of _him_," Caroline replied. "It's not like he needs protecting."

"He does," Rebekah corrected. "From himself." She turned toward Caroline then, her expression thoughtful and serious. "I've seen many women love my brother, or think they love my brother. But you're the only one who's done it right."

"I don't know if there is a right way to love someone."

"There is," Rebekah nodded. "You wouldn't be here, now, going behind his back if you didn't love him the right way. You don't always give him what he wants, but you do always give him what he _needs_."

* * *

.

"Hey, wake up sleeping beauty." Caroline had dozed off at some point. She opened her eyes and saw Damon crouching next to her, his hand shaking her shoulder. "The Professor is about to land."

Caroline sat up straight in her seat. The landing gear on the outside of the plane whirred to life and clanged into place. They were circling over a small island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, about twenty miles from Halifax. It was uncharted, of course, hidden by magic, which had made the flight plan that much more difficult to chart. It was too shallow to land the plane close to the island, so Shane put her down in the middle of the water. They lifted out an inflatable raft, powered by a small motor to take them to shore. Thank goodness they all had vampire strength, Caroline doubted they'd be able to accomplish the task of getting to shore if they were human. She made a mental note that no one should take the cure until they were at least back to the plane.

The cure.

They were so close.

Caroline's boot hit the sand of the beach, the salty air nipped at her cheeks. It was much cooler than it had been back in Virginia.

The cure was somewhere on that very island, waiting for them. In just a few short hours, it could all be over. Rebekah and Elena would be human, just like they wanted, and then she would make sure the cure was destroyed, just like Klaus wanted. Everyone would be happy and they could all continue their lives.

"So, any idea where we should start looking?" Damon asked, yanking the boat onto the beach once everyone was out.

"We should camp out tonight, stick close to the beach and wait until first light to start our search," Shane said. "It's too dangerous to be in these woods at night."

"Not if you're a vampire," Damon retorted.

"I'm _not_ a vampire," Shane replied. Damon shrugged, making it known that Shane's life and feelings weren't high on his list of priorities.

"I need time to do a few spells, anyways," Bonnie said. "I don't want to go into this completely blind to the magic we might be dealing with. There are probably protective spells all around this island and I don't want to step into any magical boobie traps."

"Fine," Damon conceded. "You have an hour."

"Excuse me, but who exactly made you in charge?" Rebekah chimed in.

Damon opened his mouth to retort but Caroline cut him off. "Cool it. Okay?" It was too early in this expedition to have everyone fighting. He stood down and they all turned to Caroline. "Bonnie, you and Shane do your witch stuff. Damon and Elena, why don't you guys go look for some wood or something so we can make a fire."

"What should I do?" Rebekah asked.

"Watch out for bears," Damon quipped. Rebekah snarled at him and Elena grabbed his hand, leading him away.

Caroline breathed. _One potential crisis averted_, she thought.

She glanced out at the water, watching the tiny waves lap against the sand. The moon was waning, adding some light to help her vampire eyes see beyond the expanse of the water. But there was nothing to see. Absolutely nothing. They were miles from any sort of civilization and completely alone.

"I'm so glad Damon was able to join us," Rebekah muttered coming up behind her. "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Caroline said, shaking out of it. "Are you nervous?"

"About what?"

"Being human again," Caroline replied.

"No, I'm not nervous about that," Rebekah told her. "I'm nervous about being so close to happiness and watching it be snatched away from me. That's what usually happens in my experience."

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted their conversation. "I guess that means we have cell service out here," Caroline said, slipping her hand into her coat pocket and retrieving her phone. "It's Klaus. Time to face the music."

Rebekah gave her a small smile. "It won't be as bad as you think."

"Thanks."

"It will be worse."

Caroline let out a little snort at her comment. Those original siblings weren't great with the whole comfort thing. But she knew it was probably true. Rebekah turned away to give her some privacy and Caroline answered her phone.

* * *

.

Klaus tore into the hotel that Caroline had claimed the girls were staying at that weekend, and headed straight for the tall reception desk. He compelled the concierge to tell him what room she was booked in and then stormed toward the stairs, not bothering with the lifts. His anger had been building during the drive from the lake house to Norfolk, and he was ready to explode.

Stefan rushed behind him and watched him enter the hallway on the sixth floor, stomping to the room. With a one firm kick, the door burst open, but Klaus already knew what he would find. Nothing. And no one.

His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides as he scanned the suite. There were a few room service items left behind, some food and opened bottles of whiskey, the covers on the beds were slightly rumpled and the couch pillows misplaced. They had been there, some time ago, and now they were gone.

"Damon must have figured it out," Stefan concluded, coming into the room behind Klaus. "They may have gone off on their own, but at least they're safe."

Klaus rounded on him. "What part of going off on a suicide scavenger hunt for an immortality cure is safe?"

Stefan held up a hand, attempting to calm him down. "It's isn't a suicide mission. Look, Bonnie probably found a way to find Silas and the cure, and they went to retrieve it. They aren't going to just blindly walk into a dangerous situation. Plus, Damon would never let anything bad happen to Elena."

"Exactly," Klaus snarled. "Elena. Elena Gilbert is the only one who is perfectly safe. Elena Gilbert will be the one he'll save if it means sacrificing everyone around her." Klaus flipped open his phone dialing Caroline's number. He hadn't seen any cell phones left behind in the room, so he had to assume that she had it with her.

She answered on the third ring.

"Where are you?" Klaus growled into the phone.

"I can't tell you," Caroline replied.

"Wrong answer, sweetheart."

"I'm guessing by your tone of voice, you know what I'm doing," she said.

"Yes. Going after the cure. Even after I strictly forbade it."

"You can _forbade_ anything, Klaus. I'm not a slave hybrid that you can control. I have to do this, out of loyalty to my friends."

"What about your loyalty to _me_?"

"Don't be childish. I'm not picking them over you." Klaus felt the vein above his brow throb in anger, at being called a child. It wasn't childish that he expected unwavering loyalty. Caroline let out a sigh. "I'm doing this for you too. I'll destroy it, once Elena and Rebekah have a chance to take it. Then we'll never have to worry about it again."

"You lied to me."

"You've lied to me," Caroline snapped back. "You think I don't know that you were still searching for it yourself? That I didn't realize you were going behind my back? I may be blonde, but I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

Klaus wanted to argue. He knew Caroline wasn't stupid, but she had the tendency to act foolishly, especially when it came to her friends. Perhaps that was the lesson she needed to learn. "If you want to do this, then go ahead. But do it alone. Don't call me asking for help. And don't expect me to fix it when you fail."

"Fine. I don't need your help." Caroline bit out. "God! You treat me like such an object. Like I can't do anything!"

"Forgive me, sweetheart," Klaus sneered, "for trying to keep you safe."

"You're not trying to keep me safe. You're trying to control me. Just like you do with Rebekah, and the rest of your siblings. Only you can't put a dagger in my chest and store me in a box, only letting me out whenever you feel like it."

"I was going to let you go," he countered, calling back to just a short time ago, after they had just found each other again, when he had been prepared to leave Caroline behind in Mystic Falls. "You're the one who begged me to reconsider."

It was like a verbal punch to the chest. Caroline swallowed down the note of vulnerability creeping up her vocal cords as she answered. "That's not quite how I remember it-"

"I never wanted to be a part of this. A part of the Elena Gilbert rescue team. I've stayed for you, I've done it all for you, and how have you repaid me? By betraying my trust in you."

"Well, clearly the distrust is mutual."

The words stung them both. Klaus inhaled, deep, his nostrils flaring as he let the frustrated breath out again. "I hope your friends live up to the faith you've put in them sweetheart, I truly do. Because I'm no longer going to pick up the pieces for their mistakes."

"Klaus," Caroline said, her voice raw with hurt. "Please understand-"

"Find someone else who cares."

Klaus hung up the phone, before he could hear her pleas. He dragged an exhausted hand over his face, tired of the explanations and excuses. He was done with them. Done with all of it.

"That was harsh," Stefan mumbled.

Klaus spun, flashing over and holding the man against the wall by his neck, his fingers grinding into the muscles of Stefan's throat. He wanted to break bones, to rip into someone, to drown the hurt and betrayal he felt in a sea of blood. He imagined the scene in his head. Tearing from floor to floor of the hotel, killing the unsuspecting guests, every man and woman and child. He had committed similar acts lifetimes ago, massacring whole villages for over a quarter of a century, trying to fill the hole that had been left in him after Caroline's death, wanting to feel anything but the pain.

Tears welled in his eyes, angry and hot, a swirl of emotion rising up inside him. He couldn't decide where to focus his attention, the hurt, the betrayal or the fear, so instead he chose the anger. Anger was an old friend.

He slammed Stefan into the wall once more, enjoying the painful grunt falling from the vampire's lips, and the way the structure of the room cracked behind the force.

"Your brother _will_ protect her," he said through gritted teeth. "She will come back. Alive. Or I will kill him and Elena and everyone you've ever met." He let Stefan go with a jerk, watching him stumble forward, choking. The former ripper looked up and nodded.

Klaus walked away from him, chest heaving, his eyes flashing.

"She's just doing this to protect her friends," Stefan said. "That's how they are. I learned that about Elena a long time ago and Caroline's the same way, if not more so. She'll protect who she loves. _Everyone_ she loves."

Klaus heard the implication in Stefan's speech, but it didn't make him feel any better or any less angry.

* * *

.

A while later, Caroline, Rebekah, and Elena were seated around a small fire. Bonnie was off down the beach with Shane, attempting to tap into his memory again, and the final path to the cure. Damon came out of woods, joining them around the fire.

"Thank goodness my phone died," Damon said waving the object in the air. "That lecture could have gone on for a while. My little brother really enjoys the guilt trip." Elena shifted, wrapping her arms around her body. He looked at Caroline. "Your boyfriend has threatened all our lives if we don't get you back safe."

"I'm surprised he cares," Caroline muttered, still hurt from her earlier conversation with Klaus. Her phone had died too, for which she was partially thankful. She kept vacillating between wanting to call him back to grovel and apologize, and wanting to tell him to shove it.

She hated that he thought he couldn't trust her. But could she trust _him_? Like she said, she knew that Klaus had been going behind her back and keeping things from her. They were both guilty of hiding the truth from one another. Two wrongs didn't make a right, but the whole thing did speak volumes about their relationship. Love had to be built on trust, otherwise, what good was it? Sneaking behind each others' backs wasn't a good thing. Caroline realized that she trusted Klaus, with her life, but she didn't trust him with her friends' lives.

That was his problem. He just never got it. He didn't care for anyone the way she cared about her friends. They were an extension of her. She had grown up an only child, and Bonnie and Elena were the closest thing she had to sisters. She couldn't imagine what she would do if anything had ever happened to them, especially after they had all lost so much already.

She looked over at Elena, who sat tracing her finger in the dirt, and then at Bonnie's dark form down the beach as she chanted into the night. For the past two years they had been in all this supernatural mess together, protecting one another, keeping each other safe. Caroline wasn't about to bail on them, she would see it through to the end.

She dropped her chin into her hand with a sigh wishing Klaus could understand this part of her, the overprotective part. Sure, it resulted in her needing to risk her life every now and then, but the perk of being a vampire meant she was more durable. In her mind, any sacrifice was worth it. There had to be some way to make him understand.

She was ripped from her melancholy musings when Bonnie's deep chants began to grow louder and more violent. The group by the fire all turned toward the commotion as Shane came running over.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

"She's tapped into something," Shane said. "Something that's not me. I don't know."

Bonnie was shouting gibberish, her tongue rolling over unintelligible words at a quick and terrifying pace. The fire they had built extinguished itself and the area turned black. A ripple passed through the air and the four of them shot up from their seats, bracing themselves.

A trail of fire ripped forward from where Bonnie stood, thrusting into the forest, past the trees, beyond where they could see.

Bonnie's chanting came to an abrupt halt and she collapsed into the sand. Seeing her fall, Caroline and Elena ran toward her and dropped down in the sand next to her.

"Bonnie?" Caroline said, turning her friend over. "Are you okay?"

Bonnie's eyes fluttered as she came back from the trance she had been under. Her head rolled around a bit and she seemed to be in a bit of a magical daze. She coughed once, coming back to herself finally. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Damon, Shane, and Rebekah stood over them as Bonnie sat up slowly, Caroline hovering over her a bit, worried.

"So, I take it that's our map," Damon guessed, his eyes following the fiery path into the woods. "Good work, Bon." The rest of them looked out into the forest, watching the fire blaze into the night. "Well, time's a-wastin. Let's get going. Some of us won't have the luxury of eternity soon."

Damon started back to the little camp to gather their things, Rebekah and Shane following behind him. Elena and Caroline helped Bonnie off the ground and she held onto their hands, giving them a little squeeze and a smile.

"Bonnie, you did it," Caroline said returning her grin.

"_We_, did it," Bonnie replied. Caroline and Elena grasped hands, completing the small circle of friendship.

"Now let's go get that cure!"

* * *

.

"I supposed there is no point in hiding this anymore," Klaus said flinging a sword down onto the floor. It was Alexander's, one of the original Five Hunters and Rebekah's former lover. After tricking Rebekah into revealing its location, Klaus had tracked it down in Italy, hoping that it would have given him a leg up on the competition for the cure. Rebekah had been trying to steal it back for weeks. They had all assumed that the sword would be needed to find a way to the cure, but the others had found a way around it.

He and Stefan had made it back to Mystic Falls and were now sitting in Klaus's mansion, a bottle of Scotch open between them. Klaus would have preferred to seethe alone, but Stefan was hovering. He didn't know if it was out of friendly concern or if the Salvatore was more worried about him going on a murderous rampage. Truthfully, Klaus hadn't ruled the latter out quite yet.

Stefan picked up the sword, holding the hilt and tipping it forward. "I never learned to use a sword," he mused. "They were before my time."

"Sword fighting is a lost art," Klaus muttered, grabbing the bottle and taking a large swig.

He thought of the collection he had kept long ago, swords collected from his dead enemies and conquests. Each one was a beautiful work of art, made even richer by the stories they carried. Weapons like these made killing more personal, more satisfying to those that truly enjoyed it. Warfare and battle, for all its gruesomeness in the modern age, was nothing compared to what it had been. The thought of his old collection, now lost, called forth another memory. One of a small blonde, standing in the middle of a shadowy room, watching her pick up a small sword and challenging him to a fight.

_"I'm going easy on you since it's your first time."_

_"No need to take it easy on me. Go ahead and give me everything you've got."_

"Why are you grinning?" Stefan asked.

Klaus swallowed the smile down, not realizing it had appeared on his face. He pushed the memory of first getting to know Caroline away. "It's nothing."

He turned his back, bringing the bottle to his lips again. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised that Caroline had gone off the way she did. She had always had a mind of her own. Always one to ignore danger, if she felt the sacrifice was worth it. The problem was, her ever present optimism always got in the way. She seemed to think that she was invincible, untouchable, and that perseverance and good intentions would always win the day. She hadn't lived long enough to know that her eternity would be fraught with danger. It was the life of the vampire. Nothing was ever truly safe, only safer.

But Klaus wanted to change that, to make her safe. To make her rose colored world a possibility. It had been his goal all along in finding Silas. If she wouldn't have just listened and not been so head strong for once. At least the cure would still be destroyed, that was something fortunate.

"What's this?" Stefan recalled Klaus's attention.

Klaus turned back, watching the other vampire turn the handle of the sword. "A cryptex," he replied.

Stefan gave it a few turns and the plates shifted and clicked, the symbols changing with each turn. "I don't know this language."

He passed it to Klaus, who dropped down onto the couch across from Stefan. Klaus held the sword in his hand, examining the markings."I don't imagine you could," Klaus said. "It's in Aramaic. Aside from a few scholars, I would wager that only my siblings and I could translate it properly."

"Does it say anything useful?"

Klaus let out a breath and began clicking the symbols around, his brain working to remember the long dead language, until they lined up into something that made sense. He hadn't taken time to examine the sword since it had been in his possession. Rebekah had had it in her's for a short time before she had buried it with her dead hunter lover. "It seems to reiterate the mission of The Five," Klaus explained, translating. "Find the cure, feed it to Silas, then kill him."

Klaus knew the legend well. The Hunters, created by descendants of Qetsiyah, required a full mark and a powerful witch to complete the task of ending Silas and fulfill the legendary witch's vendetta.

"So it's a hunter's operating manual," Stefan stated.

"More or less," Klaus replied. He turned the plate at the top the the right, spinning the body of the cryptex in the opposite direction as he did so, looking down at the new symbols. Dread filled him upon reading it and he sat up quickly, turning it again. His face dropped, the anger he had been nurturing falling quickly into worry.

"What is it?"

"It's about the cure," Klaus said. "Something I hadn't considered before. Something none of us considered."

Stefan's eyebrows shot up, his forehead wrinkling. "What?"

"There is only _one_ dose."

The ripper mirrored Klaus's look of incredulity. Klaus cursed his own stupidity. They had all been reckless idiots, each and every one of them. Destroying the cure had been a fool's errand all along. It wasn't something that would be passed around, a free-for-all cure for anyone to use. It made sense. That was why The Brotherhood of the Five were so desperate to find it and jam it down Silas's throat before anyone else got to it. It was one shot, one chance.

"Both Elena and Rebekah are on that island," Stefan said. "They _both_ want the cure."

Klaus froze, his body tensing, the realization crashing over him. "And she knows. Rebekah knows."

.

* * *

**Beware of canon changes! I decided to make Rebekah completely aware of the fact that there is only one cure dosage in this fic. I felt it was a nice twist. There will be a little bit of a reveal in the next chapter. All hell shall break loose!**

**One note continuing forward, a kind of pet peeve of mine...I had a guest reviewer mention a bit of distaste at having Delena in my fic. I have two things to say to that. Maybe three... 1) I'm a Delena shipper and I HATE how their relationship was handled in season 4. So I'm remedying that for myself here. This is me being totally selfish. 2) I'm keeping a few things from canon, so I chose to keep the fact that Damon and Elena were together in this fic. It always seemed like a very natural progression after what happened with Stefan being gone and Elena growing closer to Damon. 3) I tend to experiment with different sub ships in each of my fics that are interesting to me. I've done Elejah, Stebekah, Kalijah, Beremy...so going forward if anyone else has any qualms about ships, I hope that you can over look the fact that they aren't the main focus of the story and continue reading. However if you can't, DO NOT complain to me. Feel free to go find something else to read. I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying that this is fan fiction. There is plenty of it out there and I'm sure you will find something to suit your needs. Better yet...write your own. Then you'll never have to be disappointed.**

**So yeah, *breath*. Everyone else, thanks for the love and support. See ya next chapter!**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello lovely and fair readers! I love how I say I'm going to alternate updates between my two fics and then end up just posting new chapters for both in the same week. I've been holding onto this chapter for a while though (you guys know me by now I write ahead), so I reckoned I'd be kind and release it for enjoyment.**

**As always, ignore canon changes. I'm sure you'll be able to spot them!**

**Enjoy this action packed chapter!**

* * *

.

They had been walking through the forest for what seemed like forever. Damon was in the front, followed by Bonnie then Shane then Elena, with Caroline and Rebekah bringing up the rear. The magical fire burned across the dirt and leaves, lighting their path. The flames smoldered, winding between the rocks and trees, but didn't seem to burn anything in its wake. There was an odd violet quality to the flames, that made Caroline want to reach out and touch them, to see if they would burn her.

An owl hooted in the trees that created a canopy above them, hiding the stars and moon from view. It was quiet, except for the sound of their footsteps and Rebekah's occasional catty comments directed at Elena. Caroline thought about telling her to stop antagonizing everyone, but she could hear the nervous edge in the older vampire's remarks. At least the banter was a distraction from the weird feeling that seemed to increase the longer they continued along the glowing path.

Caroline's gaze kept darting from left to right as she walked. She just couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The group paused when they came across a collection of skulls, lined up and planted atop tall spikes. Dried blood streaked across the gaping faces, webs covering their eye sockets like a veil. A brown spider crawled out from the mouth of one and scurried over the top of the head and disappeared.

"Oh, good," Damon muttered. "So I guess that means we're not alone on this island?"

"Did we really think we were?" Elena asked, adjusting the pack on her back.

"Let's all just keep an eye out," he answered, continuing forward.

Something snapped and Caroline's heart to jumped to her throat. The next thing she saw was Damon being dragged down and pulled up by a rope that had wrapped around his ankle. He jerked to a stop high above them, dangling from a treetop like a fish on a hook and grunting at the painful position.

"Damon!" Elena shouted.

"Stay back!" he yelled to them, waving his hands.

"Some sort of animal trap," Shane guessed, walking forward and inspecting the rope.

"Not just any trap," Damon groaned. "The rope is laced with vervain."

It reminded Caroline of the time she had fallen into the vervain pool in the woods, back in 1492. She glanced up at Damon's ankle and could see his skin sizzling where it touched the rope.

Shane pulled a thick knife out of his pack and handed it to Bonnie. "Cut him down while I hold the rope tight."

Rebekah, Elena, and Caroline stood back while the other two worked to free Damon. Caroline and Elena followed the path a bit further, noticing that it cut off at a sharp cliff, the other side about a fifteen foot jump away from them.

"Well there's our next obstacle," Elena said, kicking a bit of rock over the side of the cliff. It bounced down the side of the drop, the clacking sound growing distant as it fell into the ravine below.

"We can make the jump," Caroline reassured her.

"And carry Bonnie and Shane at the same time?"

Caroline glanced back at their two non-vampire comrades. She shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Rebekah came up next to them. "We've got to be close, right?"

"I hope so," Caroline said. "We've been following this path forever."

"I remember Alexander once telling me stories about the cure, before he was about to set off on his quest, before I realized he knew that my family and I were vampires. He told me everything, all of his secrets, and I later wondered why he revealed all of that information to me," Rebekah sighed. "I guess it was because he thought he had already won."

"Maybe it was because he really did love you," Caroline, ever-the-romantic, suggested. "And was hoping that you'd take the cure and you two could be together."

"I doubt it. I don't think he ever really loved me. But I guess I'll never know," Rebekah mused, switching back to her original train of thought."They kept their most important secrets, close at hand. I'm surprised my brother didn't think of this sooner."

Caroline looked over at Rebekah. "What are you talking about?"

"He invented the Sun and Moon curse, knowing it would be a quick way to find the doppelganger, when it would put every vampire and werewolf on alert. But then it turned out that the famed curse wasn't at all what you thought it was, was it?" A small, saccharine smile played at the corners of Rebekah's mouth. Her head tilted to one side, a hint of condescension in her eyes as she looked at Caroline. "It's the same with the immortality cure. It's not what you lot think it is."

A suspicious prickle creeped up Caroline's spine. She glanced over at Damon, who still wasn't quite free of the trap, keeping one eye trained on Rebekah. For the first time in a long time, something was telling her that she shouldn't trust the blonde Original. Maybe if she just kept her talking...

"So it's not a cure for vampirism?"

"No, it is," Rebekah said, her tone remaining casual as she turned her attention back toward the ravine. "But the catch is... there is only one dose."

Caroline heard the words as individual sounds, her brain slow to piece them together into a concept that made sense. Then it struck her, like thunder. Only _one_ dose.

She tried to react, but was too late. As the words left Rebekah's lips, the older vampire turned, her hands flying out and shoving at Elena's back. Caroline watched as she pushed the raven haired girl off the cliff, hearing the short scream that left Elena's mouth.

With a quick smirk over her shoulder, Rebekah dashed off, leaping with vampire strength over the cliff gap and landing like a graceful feline on the other side. Her blonde braid whipped around her shoulder as she tossed Caroline one last fleeting glance and disappeared into the forest again, following the continued path of violet tinged fire.

"Elena!" Caroline heard Damon shout behind her just as the rope broke free and he crashed onto the ground. He ripped the remainder of the vervain laced trap off of his ankle, his hands smoking at the touch. He dashed to where Caroline was standing and looked down the long drop off. "What the fuck?"

Caroline knew she needed to act quickly. "Damon, you go get Elena," she instructed. "I'll go after Rebekah."

Before she could flash away, Damon's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. "What just happened?"

"There's only one dose of the cure," Caroline told him. So much had happened in the past thirty seconds, but that was the important part. "Rebekah knew all along."

She saw the realization pour over his features, irritatioin turning his crystal eyes a shade darker. He nodded and released her. "Damn, I hate heights," he said dropping down after Elena.

Caroline looked over at the jump. "Me too," she muttered to herself. Gritting her teeth and dropping back a few paces, she prepared her body for the jump. Even though she knew she had the vampire strength to jump up and over the stretch of air, a little human niggle of doubt fluttered in her stomach. She pushed it away and let her feet move forward, flashing and pushing off the ground, propelling herself into the air.

At vampire speed, the jump only took seconds, but it seemed to happen in slow motion. Caroline felt that false sense of weightlessness at the apex of her jump. The anti-gravity moment where her blonde curls flew up around her head and invisible wings suspended her in the air. Her heart lodged in her throat, adrenaline keeping her afloat as her graceful and powerful body careened through the air and landed gently on the opposite side.

She met the ground in a crouch, her fingertips pressing into the dirt, a small dusty cloud puffing up around her. With a quick breath of relief, her head snapped up, looking into the forest and she took off in pursuit of Rebekah.

Caroline let her feet follow the fiery trail deep into the forest. Elena would be alright, the fall from the cliff wouldn't have killed her. It might scare her or at worst, knock her out for a while, but Damon would take care of her. So would Bonnie and Shane.

Branches snapped against her face, slicing against her skin. She could feel cuts form and heal repeatedly as she ran. A few choice curses came from her lips as she pondered what the hell to do with Rebekah when she found her, and hoping that it wouldn't be too late. Would Rebekah kill her, if it meant getting the cure for herself? Caroline would have liked to think that no, Rebekah wouldn't have risked Klaus's wrath, but self-doubt told her not to rely on that. It was clear that Rebekah was desperate for the cure, and desperate motives bred desperate actions.

She should have known what Rebekah had been doing the entire time, but had been too caught up in congratulating her own master planning skills to recognize Rebekah's ulterior motives. Those Originals were damn good at manipulation. _Rebekah_ had been the one to encourage Caroline to continue her plotting against Klaus's wishes. _Rebekah_ had been the one to provide Bonnie with the gravestone, so that Bonnie could tap into Qetsiyah's magic and increase her own power. She had been the one to suggest searching Shane's memories. Rebekah had needed them to find the cure, because she didn't have the skills on her own. And they had played right into her secret plan. They had taken her out there, and drawn the path straight to the cure for her, then she had waited until the opportune moment to reveal her hand and make a mad dash toward her goal.

But Caroline would be damned if Rebekah got there first.

* * *

.

"No one's answering, everything is just going to voicemail."

Jeremy Gilbert pressed his thumb against the screen of his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Same here," Matt said.

"Nothing," Stefan added finally, looking over at Klaus.

The four men were outside on the Gilbert porch, all of them trying to contact anyone who might be on the island and figure out where they were. After Klaus had come to the realization about Rebekah's knowledge of the cure, he had stormed out of his mansion, on a mission to figure out where they might be. His first idea was that Elena's brother or Matt Donovan might have some clue. They had refused to let the Original into the home, instead camping out on the porch in the middle of the night, while they all dialed and redialed their phones trying to contact the others.

No luck.

Klaus had expected as much, but he still had to try. He was at a loss as to what to do. He had no idea where they could be, not even a clue to point them in the right direction. His only assumption was that they couldn't be more than six hours away, judging by his estimate of when Caroline left the hotel and his phone conversation with her.

But six hours. A lot could happen in six hours.

His thoughts went to his sister. Was there no one he could trust anymore? He knew Rebekah had been angry with him for dashing her dreams, but so angry that she would go this far? Where would she draw the line in her attempt to gain humanity? At killing Damon? At killing Elena? At killing...Caroline?

The thought made him gnash his teeth. First Caroline and now his very own sister. Who else would betray him? What else would his attempts at trust cost him? His earlier words about not helping Caroline should anything go wrong snapped back at him. Was it possible he brought this on himself? Her recklessness and his neglect. He swore that if anything happened to Caroline, Rebekah would pay with her life.

If she wanted to live like a human, then so be it.

She would die like a human as well. Painfully and slowly and all too soon.

* * *

.

The fire path came to an end and Caroline stopped, staring into the dark mouth of a large cavern. She wasn't a witch, able to tune into magic the way that Bonnie could, but she could feel the energy spiking around her. This was it-the final resting place of Silas.

Caroline stepped into the cave, the darkness covering her like a blanket, her vampire vision taking a moment to adjust to the change in visibility. The cave was vast, its jagged stone walls reached up and up, the edges cast in a green-blue glow. It was the vampire vision making everything look this way, similar to the way night vision looked on a camera, but clearer. She stepped forward, a slick coldness penetrating the material of her coat and causing her to shiver. It was odd. Vampires didn't feel discomfort of coldness and heat the way living creatures did. Her boots scraped against rocks, kicking pebbles as she ventured further. She gulped as the realization that she was on her own hit her. There was no fire-light path anymore to guide her way. Rebekah could be anywhere.

The click of a pebble jolted her and she snapped her head toward the sound. Her nerves tightened as she became aware anything could be waiting in that cave for her-bears, wolves, or other creatures that didn't even have names. Maybe even whatever or whomever had left those skulls on the path. When she was little, Caroline had been scared of the dark. Her mom had given her a mermaid shaped nightlight to put in her room and turned it on whenever she went to bed. The soft, orange glow hadn't provided much light, but it was enough to chase the monsters away.

There was no security night light in the cave though. Nothing to make her feel better or safer. She considered calling out, but it was unlikely that whatever was with her in the cave would be friendly, and she didn't want to give away her position to Rebekah.

With a gulp, she moved forward, following the singular path through the rocks until she came to a large underground room. Her head tilted back and she could see a small hole in the ceiling that let the moonlight in. It was fading. Dawn would soon be approaching.

She stepped into the center of the area, a breeze gathering and coasting across her face.

_Caroline_.

She heard a whisper, making her skin crawl. The cave seemed to shift, or maybe it was her imagination, but her attention was drawn to the far end where a small opening continued on. A feeling inside her chest made Caroline want to stay back. It wasn't worth it. Wherever she was being led, the risk wasn't worth it. They should just leave it alone. She would go back to Elena, Bonnie, Damon, and Shane. They would leave and go back to Mystic Falls and she would apologize to Klaus and they would kiss and make up and everyone would be safe. But another part of her said she had come this far, she shouldn't give up. She _couldn't_ give up. She chose to listen to that part, bravely tossing back her hair and continuing onward.

The darkness shrouded her again for a while, until she came to another sort of room, much, much smaller than the cavernous place she had just been. At the end of the cave corridor, there was a circular area, a large rock sort of formation in the center. It reminded Caroline of an Egyptian Sarcophagus that she had seen in a museum Klaus had taken her to during their short vacation. Then she realized that's exactly what it was, sort of. The solid, gray rock was the result of over a thousand years of desiccation. It was Silas, sleeping the sleep of the dead, though very much alive, still and hard as stone.

Over it, stood Rebekah, cursing and grunting as her hands pulled at Silas's center.

"Damn it!" her frustrated accent echoed against the dark walls. Her head snapped up when she recognized Caroline's presence. Caroline stopped in her tracks on guard, but Rebekah's defensive posture relaxed. "So, you caught up."

"Rebekah, what are you doing?"

"Don't stand there giving me that doe-eyed look of betrayal," Rebekah said. "It's pathetic."

"I trusted you."

"And Nik trusted you," Rebekah spat. "We all make mistakes."

"What were you planning to do? Kill us all when we got here and take the cure?"

"No," Rebekah replied. "I would have let you live. I can't touch you."

That answered any question Caroline had about Rebekah's thoughts on killing her, but it didn't make her feel any better. It wasn't that Rebekah didn't want to kill her, it was that she was simply unallowed. The realization stung. Because of her relationship with Klaus, she had begun to consider Rebekah a friend.

"It's not fair," Rebekah lamented. Caroline inched closer and could see a glimmer of tears shining in the older vampire's eyes. Her usually smooth voice shook as she spoke. "Everyone has someone fighting for them. Elena has Stefan and Damon practically killing themselves to please her, you have Klaus...who do I have? No one!" She sniffed. "Only myself. It's been a thousand years of getting my heart broken, of breaking my own heart for my brothers and their pains and desires, and I'm always the one who is cast aside. I always come second. Well, no more. I will take what I want this time. And damn Elena, damn _you_, and damn anyone else who gets in my way!"

Caroline felt bad for Rebekah. Almost.

"Damn it," Rebekah shouted again hitting the stone. "The vial is stuck in his hands." Her hand flew to her eye, wiping away a frustrated tear. Caroline stood there, watching her, not knowing what to do. Hopefully, Damon and Elena would be behind her shortly. Maybe if she stalled for time...

Rebekah's head lifted again to look at Caroline. The woman flashed over to her, before Caroline could realize what she was doing, and dragged her over to where Silas lay. She felt Rebekah's sharp fangs rip into the veins at her wrist and press her bleeding arm over Silas's mouth.

"We just need to loosen him up a bit," Rebekah said, holding Caroline in place. Caroline tried to fight against her hold, but the older vampire was too strong. She gasped in pain again when she felt the still creature under her come to life and latch onto her wrist. There was a tug at her skin as he continued to suck. Rebekah let go as one of Silas's hands reached up to grasp Caroline and hold her in place. The vial with the cure shimmered in the faint moonlit room as it slipped from his hand and rolled off the stone and down onto the cave floor.

Rebekah shot forward and snatched it up, folding it into her palm. Without so much as a glance back at Caroline, she dashed out of the room. Caroline gaped in shock at Rebekah leaving her behind, but was quickly pulled back into the moment as Silas continued to suck at her wrist.

"Get. Off!" Caroline grunted, using all her vampire strength to rip away from him. She felt the flesh at her wrist tear away as she launched back and hit the wall of the cave. Her face twisted in pain. Silas remained still, locked in the stone cocoon. "Rebekah!"

She dashed off, following the route she had taken before. Her movement was slower now, having been weakened by the blood loss. Silas had drained her fast. She came to a stop outside of the cave, where she saw Rebekah, in a rather sticky spot.

The other girl was immobilized by another trap. A series of stakes pinned Rebekah to a tree, sticking into her ribs and chest, prohibiting her from freeing herself. "Caroline," she called out. "Please, help me!"

Caroline wanted to scoff at Rebekah's cries for help. She should just leave her there, but she knew she could never be that cold. Then, a better idea popped into her head. "Give me the cure," she demanded.

"What?"

"I'll search you if I have to," Caroline said, "but then I'll leave you to figure out how to escape yourself. From the looks of it you'll probably have to rip a limb or two free. I bet that will hurt. A lot."

There was a fire in Caroline's eyes and voice, one that let Rebekah know that she was done playing Ms. Nice Vampire. Caroline's morality was only going to go so far now that the tables had been turned.

"Left pocket," Rebekah sneered, her lip twitching in pain.

Caroline's hand dove into the pocket of Rebekah's coat and snatched out the vial. She allowed herself a quick second for a celebratory smile, before slipping it into her own pocket and grasping onto the stake contraption to free Rebekah. Caroline pulled with the last of her strength, until Rebekah was able to move free. She pulled her body off of the stakes with a sickening suction sound, groaning at the sharp pain and sweet relief.

Rebekah hunched forward, letting out a weak breath. "Thank you, Caroline," she said.

Her gratitude was cut off as the sound of gunshots cracked through the air. Caroline released the stake-trap and it snapped back against the tree, breaking apart from the force. The two blondes spun around trying to figure out where the shots were coming from. Bullets broke against trees and the two girls instinctively crouched down, covering their heads.

Caroline was feeling even weaker now. Her wrist wound was healing, but the strength she had exuded on freeing Rebekah had drained her even more. She would need blood to fully replenish.

Caroline moved closer to Rebekah. "We need to leave."

The other girl nodded in agreement. "Thanks again for saving me," she said. "Even though I don't deserve it."

"You don't."

Rebekah gave her a tight smile. "I can always count on you goody-two-shoes types to be so predictable."

Caroline was about to retort but another bullet zipped by her head. She felt Rebekah's hand snake into her pocket before she could react and pluck the cure vial away from her once again before darting off.

Caroline turned in time to see her braid flipping behind her. She lifted her foot to go after her but then felt something catch her neck. "Damn it!" she cried, a pop of pain spreading across her shoulder. "Aggh!" she groaned reaching up to her throat. A bullet must have caught her. She took off, using what strength she had left, knowing she had to get back to her friends and get them all the hell out of there before whoever was chasing her caught up.

Caroline made it back to the cliff, her heart plummeting again as she wondered if she would have enough strength to make it over this time. Bonnie and Shane were no longer there. Damon and Elena were missing, too. She wondered where they had gone, praying that they weren't behind her, still trying to get to the cave. That's when she realized the fire path was out. It must have extinguished when she and Rebekah had found Silas. Perhaps they had retreated to the beach camp, when they realized they no longer had a path to follow.

Her neck stung and she reached up again, feeling a hole where the bullet had ripped into her body. Her hand came away covered in glistening blood. Why wasn't she healing?

Movement behind her made her forget about the wound in her neck or her ability to make it across the gap. She had to jump. Whoever was back there had gained on her during her pause. She pulled back and then gave it everything she had, leaping forward and throwing herself across the space. Her eyes squeezed shut and her body clenched as she tumbled through the air. This time, when she landed, she hit the ground with a painful thud, rolling across the dirt and leaves.

Dust swirled around her as she came to a stop, spread out on her back and staring up at the tree tops. Dark spots covered her vision, in spite of the fact that light was beginning to stretch into the sky. She grunted, lifting her weakened body off the ground. No doubt she would be sporting a few bruises until she fed. Her jacket had ripped, and she removed it, throwing it onto the ground, her body feeling too warm.

Caroline glanced back over her shoulder and saw a man standing on the opposite cliff. He was blond, dressed in a pair of jeans with a black utility vest covering his long sleeve t-shirt. He was pointing some sort of rifle straight at her. Caroline hurried away, trying to get out of range as quickly as possible. At least she had lost him. Whoever he was. There was no way he could make it over that cliff, unless he was a vampire, and judging by the fact that he was carrying a gun, he was most definitely not a vampire.

She stumbled into the woods, falling against trees, hoping that she was going the right way. Caroline shook her head, her vision swimming. What the hell was wrong with her? She was weak from blood loss, from fighting Rebekah, and from using the rest of her strength to make the jump, but she knew she shouldn't being feeling this weak. Her bones ached and all she wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep on the forest floor.

"What about your loyalty to me?"

Caroline turned at the voice. "Klaus?"

Her vision blurred, she thought she saw him in front of her, walking between the trees. Had he found them? She blinked and saw that no one was there.

Her hand went to her throat again, the bullet hole still there, still bleeding. A terrible feeling gripped her chest and she frantically lifted her bloodied fingers to her nose. The sweet, coppery smell of her blood tickled her senses but there was something else there, mixed in. Something she had smelled once before, a long time ago.

Then she realized. The man chasing her had been a vampire hunter, just like Connor Jordan. And the bullet she had been shot with had been laced...with werewolf venom.

* * *

.

They had gotten split up. Caroline had run off after Rebekah and no sooner had Damon leapt after Elena, they had been attacked. Bonnie could feel the defensive magic before it hit them. Someone was angry about their presence. A _group_ of someones. She had snatched Shane's hand and ran with him back toward the beach camp, deciding it was useless to try and follow the others.

She wasn't sure what they were going to do. It wasn't like they could just take off in the plane and leave everyone behind. Then Shane had caught another one of the traps in the woods. Only he wasn't a vampire and he wasn't so lucky. A crude stake shot through his chest, straight into his heart, killing him instantly. Bonnie barely had time to gasp and register his quick death before she was running again, away from the witches who were in hot pursuit. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she sensed werewolves, too.

At some point she had managed to hide and lose them, creating a spell to shield her presence. The fire had died out and everything was dark, but dawn would soon be breaking. Once she was certain that it was safe, Bonnie crept out of her hiding space and headed back to the shore, her magical senses on high alert.

She wondered if she should go back for Shane's body, but decided there was no point. It wasn't worth the risk and it wasn't as if she would be able to carry it anyway. If she had thought about it some more, she would have realized that the person who knew how to pilot the plane was dead, leaving them stranded. But her brain didn't go there. Instead she was consumed with worry for her friends.

She could smell the salty ocean water, hearing the gentle sound of waves, and knew she was getting close. She pleaded to any higher being that was listening that the witches had not stumbled upon their campsite. Then again, they had probably been followed all night. No doubt the island inhabitants were well aware of their presence long before they had made themselves known.

A noise to her left startled her and she spun around, her heart clanging against her chest. She saw Caroline stumbling toward her and sighed with relief before taking a closer look. Her friend looked like she had been through a hell of a battle. Caroline's curls were running wild, covered in leaves and dirt, blood soaking into her shirt. Bonnie knew she probably didn't look much better herself. She started toward her, concern written all over her face.

"Caroline, where's Elen-"

Bonnie stopped, an eerie sense of deja vu coming over her. The forest, Caroline's face twisting in pain, the bleeding wound at her neck, all adding up.

This was it.

It was her dream.

She was living out her dream.

And she realized it, just in time to see Caroline's eyes roll back in her head as she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

**How's it going everyone? Screaming maybe? Hope so ;)**

**It pains me to kill Shane. Love that weirdo fanboy, even if he was a bit of a creep.**

**Let me know your thoughts! I love you all truly and deeply.**

**Thanks to Kady (klausykins) for the beta magic. Go read her Mabekah story Against All Odds. Cause it awesome.**

**follow me on tumblr at Hybridlovelies**


	5. Chapter 5

**Back so soon!**

**If you follow me on Tumblr, you probably saw my tiny post mentioning that I goofed, and didn't add on the correct end scene for the last chapter. Mostly cause I changed it and then forgot I changed it and didn't realize it until I started editing the next chapter. So here's a short chapter that was supposed to be the original ending for chapter 5.**

**And it actually works out, because I wrote this scene from Bonnie's and Caroline's perspective, unsure of which would work better. But I think having both and spliting them up will work well. We'll see. Fic is always an experiment for me.**

**p.s. this is un-betaed since I wanted to get it out to you quickly. So, sorry if it's sub-par. Please still love me.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

.

It was all a blur. Somehow Bonnie had managed to find Damon, and Elena. She said some words and then Damon was throwing Caroline's unconscious body over his shoulder, rushing them to the plane. She heard him say something about knowing how to pilot a plane.

"What about Rebekah?" Elena asked as Damon buckled himself in and began flipping controls. The engine roared to life.

"The original bitch made her choice."

Bonnie sat on the floor with Caroline's head cradled in her lap. She was conscious again, but the poison in her system was taking over. Her head lolled back and forth and as tiny whimpers bubbled from her lips. Bonnie gently caressed her forehead, humming to her, trying to keep her friend calm.

"What are we going to do?" Elena asked sitting beside them. Their bodies shook as the plane moved, preparing for take off. "It'll take four hours to get back to Norfolk and then..."

Bonnie knew what Elena was implying. They would never make it to Klaus in time. Klaus was the only answer to werewolf bites. Even if they called him to meet them at the airport, there was still a chance she would succumb before.

"Bonnie," Caroline's weak voice stretched out to her ears, and Bonnie looked down at her friend. Her skin was warm to the touch, and her forehead glistened with sweat.

"Just hang on Care, just hang on," Bonnie said.

Elena grasped Caroline's hand and gave it a squeeze. They felt the plane lift off from the water and rise into the air.

Morning rays burst through the clouds, signaling the day, the pink and orange glow filling the plane. Bonnie chanted over Caroline, healing spells she knew, enchantments for pain, things that her Grams had taught her when magic was still new and wonderful. When it had been about communicating with nature and helping people. She knew it was useless though. Caroline was a vampire. A dead thing. Witch healing wouldn't touch her. But she hoped it would buy them time.

Caroline began thrashing about at one point, the effects of the venom taking over. She shouted for her mother, her father, and for Klaus. She cried apologies to people weren't there to here them. In a lucid moment she looked up at Elena, who still held tight to her hand.

"Tell him I'm sorry," Caroline said, not entirely lucid. "Tell him I didn't choose you over him. I just wanted to make everything right. I just wanted everyone to be happy."

Bonnie saw Elena's eyes pool with tears as she pressed a kiss to Caroline's hand. There was pain and agony and regret in each word she spoke. "Just hold on Caroline and everything will be fine," Elena whispered. "You can tell him yourself."

Hours dragged by, or maybe days. Bonnie thought Damon must have gotten lost and flew in the wrong direction. Time didn't make any sense when she was watching the life seep out of her friend like a sieve. Caroline's skin became ashen, then grey, her lips turning a sickly blue, purple color. She continued to mutter and whine and moan in her lap. A stark coldness crept up Bonnie's spine, one that she remembered feeling a few times before in moments before the worst tended to happen.

Caroline's eyes flashed opened. Bonnie jerked at the ferel redness she beheld in Caroline's usually sparkling blue orbs. With some source of strength, Caroline lunged at Bonnie, going for her throat. She felt fangs tear at her neck and cried out. Elena screamed, shooting forward and trying to grab Caroline fell forward, grasping at the wound on her throat. Elena wouldn't be able to hold her back for long, her younger strength no match for an older vampire.

"Damon!" Elena yelled.

"Hold her!" he shouted back over his shoulder. "I can't leave the controls."

Elena strained against Caroline's struggle, but Bonnie could see her friend's grip slipping. Caroline was beyond gone. She didn't know what she was doing, the only thought in her head was a craving for blood.

"Caroline please, save your strength," Bonnie said, holding up her hands. Elena lost her grip and Caroline flew forward, but she was knocked back again as Rebekah appeared out of nowhere slamming into her and holding her down.

"Where did you come from?" Elena questioned.

"Wasn't difficult to hide when you were all occupied," she grunted her answer as she held Caroline down. Caroline's fight jerked to a stop and she let go, falling unconscious again. Rebekah stood up and moved away from her, taking a seat on the opposite side from Bonnie and Elena. Elena offered some of her blood to heal Bonnie, but the witch refused. The wound wasn't so terrible.

"What happened to her?" Rebekah asked.

"She was hit with a bullet laced with werewolf venom," Bonnie said.

Rebekah's eyes bulged. "There were hunters on the island?"

"Apparently," Elena snapped. "This might as well be your fault."

"I didn't want her to bloody die!" Rebekah said. "Can't this stupid machine go any faster?"

"We're still two hours from the coast," Damon called back from the pilot's seat.

"What's the matter?" Bonnie said, her voice thick with ice. "Afraid of what your brother will do to you when we tell him you're the one responsible for her death."

Rebekah folded her arms across her chest. "If you think any of us are going to live if she dies, then you're more stupid than I orginally thought."

Caroline's coughing ended their argument. Three pairs of concerned female eyes snapped toward her. Her breaths stopped and Bonnie knelt over her.

"Caroline," she said, tapping at her cheek. "Caroline?"

"Is she dead?" Elena asked.

"Not yet, but soon. I don't know how much longer we have. We don't have two hours."

"What can we do?"

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't know." Then an idea occurred her. A risky one, but their best shot at saving Caroline's life. She looked at Rebekah who sat there stock still, staring at Caroline's withering form. "You."

"Me?" The vampire repeated meeting Bonnie's eye with nervousness and confusion.

"You have the cure. You wouldn't have come back to the plane if you didn't have it."

"I-"

"If you give it to Caroline she'll become human," the witch continued. "Werewolf venom won't kill humans."

"No but destroyed arteries and bleeding out can!" Rebekah countered.

"Her wound isn't that serious," Bonnie went on. "As long as we staunch the blood flow, she can make it, until we get her medical attention."

Rebekah's mouth fell open. She hesitated considering the possibilities. Bonnie wanted to rear up and smack the hell out of her. They had trusted her. Caroline had been her friend, and she had betrayed them all for her own selfish gain.

"You better do it," Damon interjected from the cockpit. "You said yourself. If you think Klaus is letting any of us live if she dies..." he let the sentence trail off.

Bonnie watched the war of indecision flash over Rebekah's face before she finally relented. The blonde reached into her jacket and pulled out a small vial. Elena stepped forward and took it from her, before she had the chance to reconsider. Bonnie held Caroline's head in place, squeezing the sides of her cheeks to open her mouth. Taking a deep breath, Elena unstoppered the vial and placed it against Caroline's lips, pouring the murky brown contents down her throat.

They watched Caroline swallow and fall still again.

Bonnie looked up and met Elena's eyes. "I hope this works."

* * *

**And scene.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Back with another update! Sorry to TMU readers. It's coming along, it's just slow and time consuming to get everything right, but I wanted to give everyone SOMETHING to read from me this week.**

**Thanks to all your reviews on the last two chapters! I loved seeing your reactions. Some of you are a little disappointed with Caroline being human, but I just had to do it. It's obviously the thing that would hurt both her and Klaus the most and cause the most conflict.**

**However, there is a twist on the twist. Read on to what I mean ;)**

* * *

Everything burned. Fire licked up her arms and legs, digging its burning claws into her flesh and devouring her whole. Voices screeched around her and she clawed at her ears trying to get the sound to stop. A loud roar shook her bones and she whimpered, trying to shield herself from the sound_. Make it stop. Please, please! Make the fire stop!_ Her skin-it itched. It itched so bad. She just wanted it to stop, but something was holding down her arms. Voices swam around her head, male and female, speaking in a rapid cadence. High, low, fast, slow. She tried to understand what they were saying, to figure out where she was. _Please make the burning stop._

"What about Rebekah?"

"The original bitch made her choice."

Woman's voice.

Man's voice.

Who?

"Just hang on, Care."

Bonnie. That was Bonnie. Her lips curled into a smile. She would tell Bonnie about the itching and the burning. She would use her witch powers to put out the fire in her skin.

"What are we going to do? Its takes four hours to get back to Norfolk..."

A painful drum pounded between her ears. It was getting dark and she needed her night light. The mermaid night light to chase the monsters away. _Mom?! _She screamed. But Liz wouldn't answer her. _Dad?!_

Her dad hated her. She forgot about that. He hated her because she was a vampire. Tortured her. Said she wasn't his little girl anymore. He might have killed her if Klaus hadn't...

Klaus! She needed to get back to him, needed to stop him from killing Elena. He had to know she was alright! That Mikael didn't kill her! Unless it didn't matter. Perhaps the centuries apart had changed him and he didn't love her anymore.

_I didn't choose. I didn't choose._

"Just hold on Caroline and everything will be fine. You can tell him yourself."

She felt coolness against her forehead, but it was gone in a second and she whimpered at the loss. Her skin was crawling with ants, aching with need. She needed something. She was thirsty. She needed...

Blood.

Sweet blood.

Somewhere. Anywhere.

And then she could hear it...

Pound. Pound.

Pound. Pound.

Heartbeat. Human. Blood.

She lunged toward the sound, fangs extending, jaw snapping. Her vision went red and all she could think of was killing. Taking life. Feeling power.

"Damon!"

"I can't leave the controls!"

Something was holding her back, trying to keep her from the kill. Caroline strained and struggled against it. Blood. It was all that she wanted. All that mattered. Then she felt herself being slammed back, her spine cracking and she crumbled to the ground, the fire in her skin giving way to the burn of frost, a coldness seizing her bones. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Couldn't think.

"She was hit...werewolf venom."

The voices. Her friends. Yes.

"Your fault!"

"I didn't want her to bloody die!"

"We're still two hours from the coast."

Voices faded in and out. Garbled arguments. Her hands went to her banging head as she tried to block them out. _Calm down, please, you're hurting me._

"If you think any of us are going to live if she dies, then you're more stupid that I thought."

Die? Who is dying? She felt like dying. The coldness was crawling up her lungs, digging its icy nails in and shredding her insides.

"You?"

"Me?"

"You have the cure."

Her body shook, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't. She had forgotten. Lungs. Air. In. Out. Cold. It hurt. It hurt everywhere. Can't move. Can't think. Can't breathe.

She heard something. A word. Her name. Maybe. Did she have a name? Names don't matter. Just darkness. The darkness was scary, but it didn't hurt. She saw a faint orange glow in the distance and she reached out. All she wanted was the glow. The glow would warm her and make the pain stop. It was just at her fingertips, when she felt something at her throat, sliding down, warming her insides and pressing back the cold. And then she remembered the light and reached forward again, but this time it seemed farther away. Her eyes felt heavy. Maybe she would sleep, and try again later. It didn't hurt so bad now.

"I hope this works."

* * *

.

Caroline opened her eyes and quickly shut them again. Who made the sun so bright? She must have left the curtains open before going to sleep last night. The windows in Klaus's room faced east and were just across from the bed which meant a unwelcome wake up call every morning if the drapes weren't shut. What time was it? Was she late for school? She felt so tired; all she wanted was a nice day to sleep in.

As she considered ditching her morning classes, her hand reached over patting the other side of the bed her fingers searching for Klaus. It was empty. He must have woken up already and left her to sleep. She reached for his pillow, grabbing it and pressing it to her chest, filling her lungs with the scent on the material. The smell was off. It was stale and clean like cheap detergent. Her eyes opened and the color of the pillow case was wrong. Stark white instead of a deep, forest green. She set the pillow aside and looked at the sheets she was swathed in. White.

"Caroline," a gentle voice called to her.

She looked over. "Meredith?"

Meredith Fell appeared by her side, her doctor's hands quickly setting to work and grabbing her wrist. "How are you feeling?"

There was a dull burn at her neck and ache in her bones, but nothing too bothersome. She was more concerned about where she was. "What happened?"

"Pulse is steady," Meredith announced, looking up from her watch and releasing Caroline's wrist. She put a hand to her forehead. "Temp is normal. I just need to check your blood pressure."

Meredith took her arm and gently placed it inside of a blood pressure cuff, pumping until it tightened around her bicep.

Caroline blinked in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Caroline, you're awake!" Elena and Bonnie's voices rang with relief as they came into the room.

"Careful girls," Meredith said, allowing the cuff to release with a hiss and pulling it away from her arm. "Give her some breathing room."

Meredith moved away as Elena and Bonnie came to her side. Caroline tried to sit up, the movement a little difficult.

"What happened?" Caroline asked them.

"You almost died," Damon answered. She looked up and saw him leaning against the doorway. It was then she realized they were back in the hotel suite in Norfolk. Somehow they had gotten off the island.

"Damon," Elena chided, and then turned back to Caroline. "Do you remember what happened?"

Caroline searched her memory. "Rebekah had the cure and someone was shooting at us. And I got hit. The bullet had werewolf venom in it!" Her eyes went wide as she remembered and her hand flew up to her neck, where her wound had been. Instead she found a bandage wrapped around the spot.

"Meredith stitched you up," Bonnie explained.

"Stitched me up?" Caroline was confused. "Where's Klaus? I need his blood." She was starting to panic. She remembered stumbling through the trees, trying to get to her friends. Glimpses of being on the plane came to her, but it was all a jumbled mess of bloodlust and pain. She felt fine now, but the poison could overtake her at any second. They knew that from watching both Rose and then Damon suffer from werewolf bites.

"Everything is fine," Elena said. "The werewolf venom is out of your system."

Elena's tone was reassuring, but there was a timid hint around the edges of it. Worry creased the corners of her eyes. Panic continued to tighten Caroline's chest. "Then why am I not healing? Tell me what happened? How'd we get off the island? Where's Rebekah?"

"I'm here," a shy, accented voice said in the other room from behind Damon. Caroline saw Rebekah poke her head around to see inside. Her blue eyes were sad, shoulders slumping remorsefully.

"You're all freaking me out," Caroline let out a small, hysterical sounding laugh. "Someone tell me what happened." Each of her friends exchanged worried looks. "Now!"

"It's going to be okay," Elena said placing a gentle hand on her arm. Her eyes bulged at the contact. "Whoa."

"Whoa?" Caroline repeated.

Elena took her hand off of Caroline's arm, and then replaced it again. "Damon, come here for a second." He pushed off the doorframe and walked to the side of the bed. "Touch her."

Damon gave Elena a confused look, but did as she said, placing his fingers against Caroline's bare shoulder. "Whoa," he repeated.

Caroline let out an impatient huff. "What does 'whoa' mean?"

"It means," Damon said. "That I think we have a bigger problem than you just being human again."

* * *

.

"That was Damon," Stefan said, walking back to the porch. "They're on their way back to Mystic Falls."

Klaus had spent the rest of the night and most of the morning pacing holes in the Gilbert porch. "And my sister?"

"She's with them," Stefan said, his reply providing more questions than answers. "He didn't say much over the phone, other than Shane's dead and everyone else is okay."

Klaus didn't like the way he lingered over the last word, as if there was some double meaning to be found in it. He wouldn't breathe again until he saw Caroline safe and alive with his own eyes.

"Shane's dead?" Jeremy asked from the door.

Stefan nodded. "They were attacked by some witches on the island."

Matt stood next to Jeremy. "Did they find the cure?"

Klaus saw Stefan's eyes flick in his direction before quickly moving back to the two boys. "Yeah. They did." So who had been the lucky recipient of the single dose of humanity? Was it his sister? Or the doppelganger? "Damon said they'd meet us back at the boarding house, if you want to wait there?" He directed the question at Klaus.

"Let's go," Klaus answered, hopping down the porch steps. Behind him he heard Stefan stop Matt and Jeremy, instructing them to wait to see their friends later. His last words causing the knot of trepidation in his stomach to twist tighter.

"This isn't going to be pretty."

* * *

.

The guilty group walked into the parlor of the Salvatore house a few hours later. They were a rather morose lot, all quiet and tense. Klaus's ears stretched out as his sister came into the room. She looked miserable..and he heard no heartbeat. So her mutinous plan had failed. He bit back a smile as he watched Damon and Elena walk into the room.

They looked up at him and their expressions dropped. If they were concerned about Klaus coming for her again now that she was human and attempting to use her blood for more hybrids, their fears were unfounded. He listened again and didn't hear a heartbeat from Elena either. That made him curious. Stefan had reported that they had found the cure. Clearly something had not worked out as planned.

His thoughts about the cure dropped away when Caroline came into view. The knots inside his chest fell loose and all the angry and murderous feelings melted to relief as he watched her enter the room. She was whole and safe.

While he had been waiting all night on the Gilbert porch for a word from her, his mind had been concocting gruesome fantasies of her death. He had near convinced himself that he would see her again only as a corpse, guilty that his final words to her would have been fraught with anger.

She looked up at him and smiled a half smile, beautiful but marred by nerves, perhaps from the assumption that he was still angry with her. And he would be again later, but for now he would be happy that she was safe.

Overcome by relief and gratitude to whatever higher being had protected her, he rushed towards her grasping her face in his hands. He felt her body tense under his touch, a small sound of protest escaping her throat as he made contact. Worry filled her eyes and he mirrored her expression wondering why...

And then he heard it.

A heartbeat, coming from the delicate chest in front of him.

Caroline was human.

Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but a strange feeling shimmered over him. It was strange and discomforting. A rush of blood, a pounding at his chest, and a desperate need to...breathe.

As a vampire and hybrid he didn't need to breathe. It more happened out of habit most of the time than as an unconscious act of survival, but if he stopped there was no call from his lungs for oxygen. Now though, he felt his body's needs kick in and react to the desire for air.

He was human.

Horror filled his veins and he released her and stepped away feeling the shimmer again. It was like a reverse of the previous one. Power flowed through his body and he felt the human parts drop away. His brain tried to connect what had taken place in the past ten seconds, the answers rolling in like a terrible storm. He looked up at Caroline, who nodded sadly.

"I'm human," she said to him, answering his unspoken question. "And when you touch me, you become human too."

He reached for her again, but snatched his hand back just before he made contact. Klaus stepped further away from her, missing the way she winced at his reaction. A laugh bubbled from his mouth.

"This has to be a joke," he said with a dark smile on his face, looking around at the others in the room. "Bonnie, I'm in no mood for tricks. Remove the spell."

Bonnie flinched in the corner of the room. "It's not a trick, Klaus."

"Don't toy with me, witch."

Stefan stepped into the space between Bonnie and Klaus. "She isn't toying with you," he defended.

Klaus's hysterical smile of amusement dropped to a frown, realizing that his former friend had known of this snippet of news before the group had crossed back into the city limits.

"What happened?" Klaus demanded. No one spoke. "WHAT HAPPENED?"

His voice shook the rafters of the Salvatore boarding house, everyone around him recoiling from the force of anger. Caroline's eyes slid shut to blink back tears, before she opened them to watch him again.

"We were attacked. There was a hunter on the island," Elena was the first to speak.

Klaus rounded on her, ready to throw Damon across the room as the other man stepped protectively in front of her. "You have five seconds to explain before I start tearing out your insides."

The doppelganger gulped. "She was hit by a bullet laced with werewolf venom. She wouldn't have made it back here in time to reach you. Giving her the cure was the only way to save her."

Klaus's muscles tightened as he did his best to restrain himself from killing them all.

"I gave her the cure," Rebekah chimed in across the room. "I had it and I gave it to her so she could live."

In a wild second he flashed over to his sister, wrapping his hand around her throat and crushing her windpipe. She dropped to her knees, his hold following her, her fingers clawing at him to get him to release.

"This is _your_ fault!" he screamed at her. "Your selfishness and your betrayal." He shook her with every word, letting the anger and hurt that had been festering inside of him out on her. The tears filling her eyes and sliding down her cheeks only served to increase his rage. How dare she cry? "You're nothing to me. I should kill you!"

"Klaus! Stop!"

He heard Caroline shout behind him and her delicate hand touched the back of his neck. Power and strength drained from him in an instant and Rebekah was able to break free of his grip. She choked on the other side of the room, gasping as her damaged throat healed.

Caroline removed her hand from him and stepped back. He felt himself returning to normal in an instant.

He turned toward her and for the first time noticed the bandage at her throat. She had a wound. She wasn't healing at an accelerated rate. She was really was human. And her touch made him human, too.

His eyes darted around the room, taking in the expressions of every person standing there, watching the tragedy play out. There was fear and trepidation. Empathy and heartbreak.

If he had looked at Caroline's eyes, he would have seen her plea. But he turned from her at the last second.

Then he did something he hadn't done in almost a hundred years.

He ran.

* * *

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.

.

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.

Caroline was up at the crack of dawn. No, really. Orange rays of light were just beginning to peek over the horizon and there was probably a rooster crowing in the distance. It was Wednesday morning, over a week since they had returned from Nova Scotia. She stretched out her limbs and threw back her flower print covers. Time to get ready for school.

She went into the bathroom to shower, scrubbing off the weeks worth of mopey grossness that had accumulated on her body from an entire week of not getting out of bed. Her brain didn't think about why though. Instead, she silently repeated to herself the laundry list of things that she had put off that needed to be done. When she was clean, she stepped out and carefully removed the bandage from her next. The wound was looking a bit better. Meredith had instructed her on how to care for it and gave her some medicine in case there was any pain. But Caroline ignored the small orange bottle in her medicine cabinet.

After she showered, dried her hair, and put on her makeup, she changed into her outfit for school. A nice sundress and cardigan. The dress was a little loose on her. She seemed to have dropped some weight in the past week. But she ignored the reason for that, too. Liz was in the kitchen, making coffee, when Caroline entered. Bacon sizzled in the frying pan, the buttery smell making her stomach rumble. She kissed her mom on the cheek and opened the top cabinet where they kept the cereal, taking down a box and grabbing the milk from the fridge.

"Caroline, sweetie, what are you doing?" her mom asked, taking in her daughter's appearance.

"Having breakfast," she replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Going to school."

Liz set down her coffee cup and regarded her. "Are you sure you don't want to stay home?"

"No," Caroline said, pouring milk over her bowl of frosted flakes. "I have a french test today and the first prom committee meeting during lunch hour. I'm in charge, I have to go. I've missed a whole week already."

Liz blinked, unsure of what to do. "It's alright if you take some more time-" She jumped as Caroline's spoon clanged against her bowl.

"I don't need any time," she said quickly, swallowing down a bite of cereal. She didn't want anymore time. It wasn't doing a damn thing for her. Besides, she didn't exactly have a lot of time to waste anymore. "Speaking of time, I'm going to be late. See you later mom."

She grabbed her school bag off the kitchen table and zoomed out the door, leaving her very confused mother to her coffee and bacon.

At school, Caroline saw Matt, Bonnie and Elena standing around their lockers. She walked up to them, a bright smile on her face, excited to see her friends.

"Good morning!" her chipper voice sang out. The three of them turned to look at her, their eyes wide and their mouths open. She started. "What's the matter? Are my stitches bleeding?" Her hand flew to her neck.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?" Elena asked her.

"I have a French test today and prom committee," she repeated the same answer she had given her mother.

"Shouldn't you be at home, like, recuperating or something?" Matt questioned.

"I'm human again, Matt, I'm not sick," she replied, seeing the three of them tense up at the use of the "H" word. She scoffed. "Oh come on, we can say it..._human_."

Matt shuffled his feet and Elena looked at a loss for what to say. Bonnie, thankfully, stepped in. "Are you feeling okay?"

Caroline shrugged. "Yeah, like I said…not sick." She laughed, but no one joined in. "You're killing me here! Lighten up. Why are you guys so tense?"

They all looked at each other, as Caroline stood watching. "We were just worried about you," Elena replied.

"No need to worry. I'm fine. Although, it was weird to not start out the day with a blood bag."

The warning bell rang and the group headed down the hallway toward their classes. "I guess you'll be getting rid of the ones left at your house, huh?" Matt guessed.

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, er-because you're human now."

"Yeah, but it's not like it's a permanent thing," she said waving him off.

Matt faltered, his nervous eyes darting to Bonnie. "It's not?"

"No," Caroline continued. "I just need someone to turn me back into a vampire. Elena or I'm sure Stefan would do it if you think it's too creepy for you?" Her eyebrows curved in question at her friend.

The idea had occurred to her the night before. She wasn't sure why no one had suggested it earlier. Probably because they were all overwhelmed with everything that had been happening. It was understandable. The simplest of solutions were always overlooked.

"Caroline, I don't think we can change you back into a vampire," Bonnie interjected.

Caroline laughed in disbelief. "What are you talking about…_can't_ change me back? What do you mean?"

"Maybe we should go talk outside," Bonnie suggested. She looked over at Elena, who looked at Matt, who decided to exit the conversation and head to class.

The three girls went outside, to the back of the school, making it out the door just as the late bell rang.

"Okay, what's the big deal? You've got your ominous voice going."

"I've been running a couple experiments with Meredith," Bonnie explained. "She took a sample of your blood after she stitched you up the other day, just to run some tests on."

Caroline let her head fall into a nod. "Okay, that's a little creepy."

"We put our heads together and mixed your cured blood with Elena's vampire blood and," Bonnie teeth pulled at her lip as she paused. "Your cured blood just wiped out the vampire magic in Elena's."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that if we try to make you a vampire, you won't become a vampire. Instead of waking up and transitioning you'll just...be dead."

Caroline let out a slow breath.

Okay.

_Okay._

So, that was kind of really bad news. But she was Caroline Forbes. She could figure this out.

"It's fine," Caroline responded. "We'll just...we'll do some research. We'll crack open some grimoires and figure out how to reverse the spell."

"You can't reverse spells," Bonnie countered.

"Then we'll figure out another spell, like a fix-it or a re-do or something."

"Damon and I already looked through all of Bonnie's grimoires and books," Elena told her. "We couldn't find anything."

"So you just give up?" Caroline questioned, her voice growing a bit more shrill.

"I don't think there is anything we can do."

Caroline felt it then. She had been putting up a wall all morning, holding all of her emotions in. The anger, the sadness, the fear she felt at being human again. It had all been bubbling inside her over the past week she spent locked in her room. Churning and mixing and rumbling like lava. Her emotions had combined into a hot, powerful feeling that she wasn't sure had a name, but now she was about to erupt.

"Are you kidding me?" she lashed out. "You going to give up after _a week_?"

Elena held her hands up as Caroline advanced on her. "Caroline, we're not-"

"Let me get this straight, Elena Gilbert. We all bust our asses, put our lives on the line for you repeatedly, to save _you_. Then, you become a vampire and we do it again because you've lost your freakin' mind and couldn't handle being one. But as soon as one of your friends needs something, you just give up after a _little_ bit of trouble. Is that what is going on here or am I misunderstanding something?"

Elena balked. "It's not like that-"

Without meaning to, Caroline flashed over and knocked Elena against the wall. Her friend gasped in surprise and pain, unable to fight back against Caroline's new found power. "Then please tell me what it's not like," Caroline demanded. She looked down at Elena and realized what she was doing, but she was too angry to feel guilty at the outburst. Taking a moment, she stepped away from her, calming down and smoothing out her sweater. "No, you know what. Save it. Why don't you go off into the sunset with Damon and live happy ever after. I'll figure this out on my own. Without any help from any of you." She hissed the last, meeting the eyes of both of her incredulous and guilty friends.

Without giving them the chance to reply, she whirled around and headed to her car. Maybe she did need another day off. Screw French. Screw prom. Screw them all!

"Caroline." Someone reached and grabbed her arm, just as she hit the parking lot. She spun around and saw Stefan standing behind her. His brown eyes calm and sad as ever. "I saw what happened..."

At first Caroline was about to shout at him too, thinking he had come over to yell at her for hurting Elena. Then something in his gentle look told her that his concern was for her, not his ex-girlfriend.

"I'm fine Stefan," she sighed. "I'm just going to go home."

Stefan tilted his head toward her. "What do I always say, Caroline? You don't have to pretend with me?" Caroline's eyes flicked away from his knowing gaze. Her shoulders dropped and she let her mask drop just a bit. "Have you heard from Klaus?"

Caroline swallowed the knot in her throat. It was the one part of the Greek tragedy that had become her life she was trying not to think about. The fact that the person she loved and trusted the most in the world had abandoned her, just when she needed him the most. "No. And I don't think I will. You saw how he reacted to me...I'm obviously repulsive to him now."

"I'm sure that's not true, maybe-"

"Look, Stefan I appreciate the pep talk, but I'm trying to not have a mental break down right now," Caroline said. "Talking about Klaus is not helping."

"Okay," he nodded. "I just want you to know you aren't alone in this."

Caroline eyes softened, and she offered him a half smile. "Thank you."

"And, I think you're on the right track about maybe doing some research about the cure."

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Shane knew more than he was letting on."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well remember the part in the legend about Silas and Qetsiyah and the whole veil thing?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, Silas wanted to drop the veil that separated dead supernaturals from the regular dead people so he could rejoin his true love."

"Yeah, well while Klaus and I were waiting around, I did some more reading about the legend. Apparently, dropping the veil would bring _every _supernatural back to Earth but to do it Silas needed a powerful witch to tap into enough power and complete that spell."

"Sounds like Bonnie," Caroline said. "But I don't see why that makes you suspicious of Shane?"

Stefan pulled something out of his pocket, a newspaper clipping. "I found this on the internet," he said handing it to her. "Shane had a wife who died and a son. They were both witches."

"So you think..."

"I think that Shane lured you guys out there so he could use Bonnie to raise Silas to drop the veil and get his wife back."

Geez. Seems like everyone had an ulterior motive for being on the island. The subplots were piling up so high, it was making her head spin.

"So, Shane was keeping secrets," Caroline agreed. "Where do we start?"

"His office over at Whitmore? I'm sure there might be a few things we could find there."

They jumped into Stefan's car, and he peeled out of the Mystic High parking lot, heading off to Whitmore College. Hopefully no one had realized that Shane was missing yet and had everything cleaned out already. Caroline rolled the window down, letting the breeze fly through her waves as Stefan turned the radio knob. She gasped, a belated thought coming to mind.

"Oh my god I shoved Elena," she said, remembering her violent action just a short while ago. "I can't believe I did that." She was still mad at both her friends, but she didn't mean to react the way she did. It was a very vampire-esque reaction. Something snappy. The kind of heightened emotional reaction she usually had to stay on top of. Then she realized something else. "I used vampire speed. I rushed at her with vampire speed."

"You did," Stefan affirmed, remembering what happened. He had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

"So I'm human, but I still have vampire powers?" She flipped down the visor to examine her neck in the mirror, peeking back the bandage. The place where the bullet had nipped her was still in the same state it had been in that morning-scabby and pink. It looked like a week old wound. "But I'm not healing. I don't get it."

Stefan looked over, shrugging in confusion. "I guess we can add that to our list of things to be on the lookout for," he replied.

Caroline propped her elbow on the door and rested her hand in her head, staring absently at the passing scenery. A small giggled escaped her lips.

Stefan glanced over. "What are you laughing about?"

"Irony," she said with a bitter smile, thinking that if she didn't laugh, she'd start to cry. "Out of every one who wanted the cure, I was the one who got it. I know I'm not supposed to want to be this evil creature of darkness that survives on human blood but…" she let out a sigh. "I liked being strong and not having to be afraid of anything and the possibility of forever. I liked who I was when I became a vampire. Being a vampire made me better at being a person."

"Well you know that becoming a vampire only amplifies who you already are," Stefan said. "Which means you were already a pretty great person to begin with."

"You didn't think so much of me when we first met," Caroline teased.

"Yeah well, I was idiot about a lot of things when we first met," Stefan retorted. His tone was light, but she could hear the resentment coating his words.

She reached over and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Thanks, Stefan."

They parked outside of one of the old Whitmore buildings. Even though Caroline had never visited the college herself, she remembered Bonnie once mentioning where his office had been located. The campus was old, more than a hundred years, some of the brick buildings showing wear and tear from time. Students lingered on the lawns around them, some sitting alone enjoying a bit of outdoor study time. Caroline's eyes fell on a group of girls at a picnic table, the three of them with coffees in their hands, laughing over something.

College life. It was something she hadn't really thought about. Not lately, anyways. Before becoming a vampire, she had wanted to go to school to study broadcast journalism. Then things changed. She always knew in the back of her mind that she wanted to pursue higher education, but she had lifetimes to accomplish that goal. And of course there was Klaus. Travelling with him had opened her eyes to a whole new world. There was so much to see and learn and she quickly realized that he liked playing teacher. She had imagined going away with him again after graduation, seeing more of the world, learning from his stories and centuries worth of experience. They would have had forever. But now, none of that would happen.

"Hey, you alright?" Stefan asked, nudging her.

"Yeah, just thinking about...college," she said. They walked along the sidewalk together, looking for Shane's building. "You went right?"

Stefan nodded. "A couple times. Once to study medicine and then one more time about a decade later."

"What'd you major in the second time?" she asked him as they reached the building they had been looking for.

"Philosophy," he replied, opening the door for her.

She laughed. "For some reason, that makes so much sense."

They walked up the stairs to the second floor and down the hallway. Caroline felt a little edgy, wondering if they would get caught, but Stefan seemed to be at ease. Shane's office was at the very end of the hall.

"So are we just going to break in?" she asked Stefan.

He shrugged and reached for the knob, both of them a little surprised that it turned without protest. "Guess we don't have to."

Stefan pushed open the door and Caroline walked into the darkened office. She stopped short when she saw the reason the door had been unlocked. Someone was already in there. Her stomach dropped as her blue eyes locked with the storm gray ones across the room, and she heard Stefan come in behind her.

"Klaus."

* * *

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.

**So to sum up, Caroline is human, but she can suck away supernatural power with skin to skin contact. But she also still seems to possess supernatural strength. Hmmm...wonder why that could be? :)**

**This chapter was a little intimidating for me to write, because I know everyone (myself included) was waiting to see how Klaus would react to Caroline being human. Him running, seemed like the most likely reaction, after going into a rage and taking things out on Rebekah (much like he did in the beginning of season 4). From my POV of Klaus, he isn't above running when he isn't certain of victory in a fight, he did run from Mikael for all those years before he turned Hybrid and knew he had a shot at defeating him. So it made sense that he would be incredibly overwhelmed at seeing Caroline human.**

**I know a lot of you might wonder why Klaus didn't think of just turning her again right away and my answer to that is just general shock. He's most appalled by the fact that she has this weird power and horrified by what it could mean and isn't necessarily thinking clearly. Impulsive fellow, that one.**

**p.s. I love mixing science and magic. So I came up with those little bits of Meredith and Bonnie putting their heads together to figure out what is going on with Caroline.**

**Well enough of my babbles, that was a lot! Let me know what YOU think.**

**Thanks to Klausykins for the beta magic!**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey all! So, thanks for all the reviews/comments on the last chapter. Some of your are intrigued by the whole Caroline is a human thing and some of your are like noooooooooooo! (only a couple people said they weren't reading anymore because they hated it so much...what can ya do? *shrug*) Anyways, I hope you'll stick by my side, because I think I have some good plans in store.**

**Oh and pain, lots and lots of pain.**

**Also, just to clarify cause I know some readers were confused, Caroline's supernatural sucking power on lasts for as long as she is touching someone and it only works during skin to skin contact. So touching through clothes won't do anything.**

**AND...I'm gonna go ahead a spoil this since so many people mentioned it...no pregnancy in this fic. I am not a writer of fics with pregnancy plots/children in them. It's just not something I enjoy. Apologies if you were one of the readers crossing your fingers for that plot line!**

**Enjoy!**

**p.s. this was not really beta-ed so apologies for extra spelling/grammar errors and weirdness.**

* * *

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Klaus placed his hand on the silver knob of Shane's office door and gave it a firm twist. It turned easily, the tumblers of the locks crushing each other to pieces under the pressure of his hand. He pushed the door open and shut it gently behind him. The door wouldn't shut properly now that the knob was broken, but it would still appear to be closed and locked to anyone who might pass by.

He stood inside the room, golden spring light peeking through the curtains and blinds. The room smelled faintly of incense and chamomile, a hint of the man who had lived his days in and out of the office. Striding over to the desk, Klaus began flipping through the papers on scattered on top. There were a few students assignments, with scratches of red on them, bleeding with Shane's thoughts and comments. Not that he was expecting to find what he was looking for that easily.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for. Something. _Anything_. A clue or some answers about the legend of Silas that the professor had conveniently left out. Perhaps it was his proclivity to always being suspicious of those around him, but his instincts were flaring and he knew there had to be more to the whole cure thing than they originally thought-given that Caroline was now human again, and now possessed the power to turn other supernaturals human with a single touch. A power that he had never heard of in his thousand year existence, or even conceived possible.

Her face appeared in his mind and he recalled the way she looked when he recoiled from her at the Salvatore house a week ago. Klaus wasn't a man who lived with many regrets; there wasn't room for such an emotion when one lived for an eternity. But if he had a list of moments he wanted to do over again he would have chosen that one. He had run from her and that, he begrudgingly admitted to himself after a few days, had been cowardly.

However, instead of rectifying the situation he had chosen to keep his distance. The distance helped him think. It helped him dig himself out of the feeling of disappointment and hopelessness and find some straw of hope on which to grasp.

There _had_ to be an answer, a reversal, a fix it. He was unwilling to accept that Caroline was just human again—human and in possession of a terrifying power. He needed her to be whole and herself. He needed her to be the woman that he-

Voices outside the door made him stop and look up. They were voices he recognized. The door creaked open and he watched as Caroline walked into the room, Stefan standing behind her. She stopped and their eyes locked, his breath stilling in his chest.

Klaus kept up his emotionless mask, trying to gage what she might be thinking. Was she angry at him for running? Was she a little glad to see him? He never could figure out exactly how she would react to situations. Perhaps it was one of the reasons he was so enamored with her. It had been days since he'd seen her. His eyes roamed her form. He hadn't really studied her since she came back from the island, not that he'd given himself much of an opportunity to do so.

She looked exactly the same, beautiful as ever-an array of soft colors and sharp, hidden edges making up an entirely original work of art. Golden curls, as expressive about her moods and thoughts as Van Gogh's brushstrokes, wave blue eyes that would both could caress and rage against the sand before and after a storm, crimson lips that he had kissed many times over and could never get enough of—the taste falling from them sweeter than blood. It was as if nothing had even changed about her. He couldn't see a sign in her features that indicated she was human. She just looked like Caroline. His eyes went to the bandage at her neck, partially obscured by her golden locks. He frowned, hoping for a moment that perhaps her human status had been corrected in his absence from her, even though he currently knew that to be impossible.

His hybrid spy had been keeping an eye on the group and had reported of the findings between Bonnie and the doctor, Meredith Fell.

It had been his last sliver of hope. After a few days and several bottles of Scotch, he had almost marched over to her house himself to change her again, but had hesitated, not wanting to do something rash and make matters worse. It was a fortunate thing too, he realized, after his hybrid had come to him with the news that attempting to turn her vampire again would only kill her.

Of course he took his temper out on the unfortunate messenger, drowning his anger in the younger man's blood. That was when he considered further investigation into Silas and the immortality spell and what it all meant.

"Klaus." Stefan said his name, obviously confused by his presence.

"I'm guessing that you had the same thought I did?" Klaus asked, cursing when Caroline's eyes moved away from his.

"That Shane was a lying bastard?" Stefan replied, shutting the office door.

"Now, now. It isn't wise to speak ill of the dead."

He saw Caroline's attention moving back and forth between them, but her gaze never connected with his again. She was angry. She liked to avoid eye contact as much as possible when she was mad. It wasn't a surprise. "Now with the three of us, hopefully we can find something useful faster."

"I'm sorry," Caroline broke in, stepping forward. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"The same as you and Stefan I presume," Klaus answered. "Looking for any information on Silas that our now dead professor friend forgot to mention. I've gone through that cabinet there already, perhaps you can start on the bookcase, love?"

Frustration flashed in her eyes, but Klaus missed it, turning his head back to the files on the desk. Caroline scrunched her face, feeling Stefan give her a tiny nudge from behind. She relented, walking towards Shane's dusty bookshelf, beginning to go through each of the texts.

"I'm surprised you didn't do this sooner," Stefan mentioned from the opposite side of the room as he began going through the file cabinet that still remained unchecked.

"So am I," Klaus agreed. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take a second look at Shane's motivations. Clearly, I underestimated the man."

"We all made that mistake."

Klaus sat down at the professor's desk, letting his fingers travel over the wood. Caroline watched him from the corner of her eye as he scrutinized the structure very carefully. "What are you doing?"

"This is an old desk," Klaus explained. "They were often built with secret compartments. Shane-being a history teacher-would have known this. In fact I'm sure that's why he has this particular desk in his office. It's not a typical piece of furniture one would find in a modern college."

"Okay, Sherlock Holmes," Caroline muttered under her breath, turning her attention back to the book in her hand.

"What did you say? Didn't catch that, sweetheart." Klaus baited.

"I just don't get why you're here," Caroline lashed out, speaking up. "Why do you care about finding out what Shane might have been hiding?"

Klaus looked at her from the chair, his expression revealing nothing. "I care."

"Do you?" She challenged. "Because running away from me a week ago like I'm some sort of freak and not hearing a word from you since says otherwise."

Klaus stood and walked around the desk coming closer to her. Her arms folded across her chest, the look on her face pulling at him. She was the only one who ever dared to look at him that way, without a drop of fear in her eyes. It unnerved him and it excited him. Then he realized that she didn't have a reason to be afraid of him anymore. One touch of her skin, and he would be powerless.

Caroline could see the trepidation guiding his steps, and she hated the way he kept a fair amount of distance between them. He seemed unsure of what to do or how to act around her now. She wished he would rush forward, scoop her up into his arms, and kiss her senseless, making all of her insecurities go away. She wanted him to tell her that she was just being crazy in thinking that he couldn't care about her now that she was human.

Stefan cleared his throat, breaking some of the tension. "I'm gonna…just…" he pointed at the door and scurried out, leaving them alone.

"I wanted to find out more about the cure," Klaus said to her. "To see if it's reversible."

"It's not," Caroline told him. "Bonnie already figured that out. And I can't be changed again the usual way."

"I see," he said, already aware of the second part.

_It doesn't matter, I still love you_, Caroline urged him to say, but he remained silent. "Why haven't you said anything? Called or come over or something?" It was such a normal fight to be having with a boyfriend, but the context was anything but average. It wasn't as simple as him just being distant or neglectful.

"I knew you were alive. And safe for now."

"That's all that matters?"

"Yes."

Caroline flinched at the finality in his voice. With a shake of her head, she turned her attention back to the bookshelf, sensing Klaus's eyes on her back. She tried to ignore him, pulling a volume from the shelf and flipping the pages. Weird symbols were drawn across the page and as she reached the middle, she noticed a few that looked familiar.

"Hey," she called, hiding her sniffle. "These are familiar."

She extended the book to Klaus. He took it, careful not to come in contact with her skin and looked down at the page. "They're runes."

"There though," she said pointing out three of the symbols. "They were on Jeremy's tattoo. I remember seeing them." Klaus's jaw ticked as his eyes flicked back and forth. "Could this be something?"

"Shane might have known how to translate them," Klaus guessed. "I imagine that he would have committed it to memory and destroyed any of the information he gathered."

"Can you read them?"

"_I_ can't," he replied. "But I know someone who can."

Caroline shook her head impatiently. "Who?"

"Kol."

* * *

.

Caroline had taken Shane's book back to her house, deciding to spend the evening studying the Runes instead of catching up on homework. Her laptop was open on her coffee table and she was searching the Internet for any translation she could find. The results were frustrating.

Kol, as it turned out, was not an option for help. Klaus had admitted to her that he had daggered his younger sibling after an argument they had. He didn't go into specifics. Caroline rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and thought that whatever revenge Kol would exact, Klaus probably had coming. Afterwards they had parted ways and Stefan had driven Caroline back home.

It had been three hours and Caroline was so tired of staring back and forth at her computer and the book. Everything was blurring together into an even more nonsensical mess. With a frustrated huff, she leaned back against her couch and stared up at the ceiling.

Nothing made sense. She was a human, but still had vampire speed and strength. She and Stefan and tested her strength when they'd gotten back to her house, going through a few safe demonstrations that Stefan thought up. She could run, jump, punch, lift, like a vampire could, but she didn't heal at an accelerated rate.

"This doesn't make sense," she said out loud to no one.

Something clicked in the kitchen, and she sat up in attention. Her ears on alert. It sounded like the back door shutting. Apparently, she still had acute vampire senses too.

_Wait a second_, she thought.

She was home alone. Her mom was working and even if Liz _had_ come home early, she wouldn't have entered through the back. Not to mention Caroline would have heard her patrol car pull into the driveway.

There was an intruder in her house. Her body tensed, going into defense mode.

Slowly, she rose from the couch, careful to not make a sound and still listening for more noise. It could be nothing; maybe just an animal scarpping against the back door. She could have just been imagining the sound and freaking herself out over nothing.

Her heart rate increased as she moved closer to the kitchen, her eyes darting back and forth looking for a shadow or listening for a noise or something to give away an intruder's presence. Her hands reached for a vase on the hall table, aiming to use it as a weapon.

Gathering her courage she darted into the kitchen and yelled, hoping to at least scare her potential attacker.

No one was there. Now she felt dumb for yelling and jumping out like a banshee. She _had_ just been freaking herself out after all.

"Get a grip, Caroline," she muttered, lowering the vase from attack position.

A sharp knock at her door made her jump again and spin around, almost dropping the vase to the floor. Shaking herself out of it, she walked out of the kitchen, setting her makeshift weapon back into place. Through the window of her front door she saw Bonnie giving her a tiny wave.

"Hey," she greeted opening the door.

"Hey," Bonnie returned, shuffling her feet. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." Caroline stood back and let the girl in. They walked into the living room and stood facing one another, a few moments of awkward silence passing between them

"I'm sorry, Caroline," Bonnie began. "I feel weird about today and I just wanted to say—"

Caroline sighed. "No, Bon, it's fine."

"You were right though. We haven't been good friends to you. We should be doing everything in our power to make this right."  
"Bonnie, you _have_ done everything in your power. More than everything in your power," Caroline said. "I just—I had a moment. I hate blaming Elena and being mad at her, but does she get what we sacrifice for her?"

"She does," Bonnie reassured. "And she's suffered too."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I can't really blame her. It's not her fault," Caroline ran a hand through her waves. "It's just—it's not fair. That she gets to have my life now. She didn't even want to be a vampire and I did—do."

Bonnie nodded, not knowing what to say. Her eyes flicked momentarily down at the coffee table, noticing the book that Caroline had left there. She recognized the symbols on the open pages. "Runes?"

"Yeah," Caroline affirmed. "We found the book in Shane's office. We were hoping to find something else about Silas or the cure or some way of fixing me."

"We?"

"Me and Stefan and…Klaus." Caroline pulled her lip between her teeth.

"Klaus?" Bonnie snorted. "I thought he bailed on you and this whole thing."

Caroline's brows flicked up and down. "Me too. But we caught him there snooping so…" she let the sentence trail off. "Do you know anything about Runes?"

"A little bit," Bonnie said. "Grams gave me a magical history lesson once. But it was before I really bought into all the witch stuff, so I yawned through most of it."

"I'm trying to translate them. Klaus said Kol knows how to, but he isn't exactly available for consultation at the moment," Caroline explained about Kol's current comatose state.

"I can't read them," Bonnie told her, "but maybe I can help find a translation source."

The two girls smiled at one another. "Thanks, Bon."

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

"Hair braiding, shopping, boy trouble, life threatening supernatural misadventures…" Caroline giggled.

"I'm gonna go grab a soda," Bonnie said.

"Sure help yourself," Caroline replied, taking a seat on the couch once again.

She pulled the book back into her lap, feeling refreshed and encouraged now that Bonnie would be helping her out. Caroline had been trying to translate the pages with the symbols she had recognized on them, but now she had decided to go through the entire book and look for repeats. Two heads would be better than one.

After a minute or two, Caroline realized then that Bonnie was taking a long time in the kitchen. "Hey Bonnie, what's the hold up?" No answer. Not a single sound of a refrigerator door swinging or a cabinet opening. "Bonnie?"

The click of a gun answered her and she saw Bonnie walk around the corner, face stricken in fear. There was a gun pressed to her friend's temple and holding it was a man just behind her dressed in cargo pants and black utility vest, his free hand squeezing into Bonnie's shoulder and moving her forward. Caroline jumped up off the couch.

"Easy there girlie," the man warned, his accent sounded Scottish or Irish, Caroline wasn't sure which. "No sudden movements. Wouldn't want to have to shoot your friend in the head."

"What do you want?"

"You, Caroline Forbes. Mystic Falls, Virgina. Birthdate: September 20th, 1992."

Caroline took another step forward but stopped when he thumped Bonnie in the head with the back of his gun, letting her unconscious body drop to the floor.

"Bonnie!" Caroline cried out moving forward, but the man trained his gun on her, freezing her in her tracks.

"Don't worry, she'll be alright. Just wake up with a nasty headache," he said moving toward her. "You're coming with me."

"Like hell I am," Caroline countered. She didn't even think as she strode toward him. Maybe she wasn't as durable anymore, but she still had her vamp-strength and reflexes. And this bastard had just hurt her friend. No way was he getting away with that.

She gritted her teeth and lunged grabbing his arm with the gun and throwing it up in attempt to dislocate his shoulder. The trigger pulled and the gun went off, the sound ringing in Caroline's ears. He shoved her away but she managed to hold him, taking him down with her as she fell back.

He landed on top of her, hard, and she let out a grunt. Her hands went to the gun attempting to wrestle it away from him.

"You're going…to get…yourself…shot…" he warned between gritted teeth, his scruffy face turning red and purple.

"Then…let...go…" Caroline countered, rearing back to head but him.

Something ripped him off of her, tossing him across the room, causing him to hit the wall. The framed pictures of her family bounced and fell down around him. Caroline scrambled to her feet and saw Klaus standing there, his menacing gaze focused on her attacker. Without pretense, he leapt forward and bashed the man's head into the wall rendering him unconscious. The intruder slumped to the ground, the gun falling from his limp hand.

Klaus turned his head toward Caroline, his hybrid features melting away as he faced her, yellow eyes morphing back to blue and wolf teeth disappearing into his gums. "Are you alright?" he asked. Caroline nodded and noticed his lip twitch in satisfaction. But that momentary happiness soon gave way to irritation. "What in hell were you thinking? In case you've forgotten you _are_ human now, love."

"Seriously? You think I forgotten that?"

He stepped toward her. "Well, that can be the only possible explanation for you taking on an armed intruder."

"What else was I supposed to do? It's not like I _knew_ you were here," Caroline shifted on her feet, smoothing out her mussed hair. "Why are you here?"

Klaus opened his mouth and shut it again. "It's fortunate that I was, wouldn't you say?"

"Mhmm," Caroline murmured, furrowing her brows. "Nice try. But your evading techniques aren't going to work. Why. Are. You. Here?" Klaus and Caroline stared each other down as he refused to answer. "Simple question," Caroline goaded.

Klaus started to respond, but a groan from Bonnie on the floor interrupted them and Caroline flew to her friend's side, feeling a little guilty about totally forgetting her on the floor.

"Bonnie, are you alright?" Caroline asked as Bonnie sat up, rubbing the back of her head. Caroline knelt down on her knees next to her.

"Yeah," she groaned. "That hurt though." Bonnie blinked a few times, looking up and seeing the new person in the room. "Klaus?"

He nodded and turned back in the direction of the unconscious attacker. "Well, I should finish killing him before he wakes up."

"No!" Caroline shouted quickly, surprising both Klaus and Bonnie.

"No?" He questioned, looking at her like she'd better have a bloody good explanation for keeping him alive.

She stood up. "You can't. He's a hunter."

Klaus gave her a confused look, but then walked over to the man, crouching down and pulling up his sleeve. There on his arm was the hunter tattoo, fully formed, black ink swirling around his entire arm. Klaus looked back at Caroline. "How did you know?"

"That's the guy from the island. I recognized him," she explained. "He's the one who shot me."

* * *

.

Klaus had taken the unconscious man and sat him in one of the dining table chairs that Bonnie had brought into the living room from the kitchen. Caroline remembered a spare pair of handcuffs her mother kept in her room and grabbed them, handing them over to Klaus and letting him bind the man's hands behind around the back of the chair.

"Well, it's not the best means of interrogation," Caroline said, examining their handiwork. "But it's something."

She thought she saw Klaus's lip curl up, but as soon as she looked again it had disappeared.

Right on cue, the man came awake, a moan sliding from his lips. "Fuck," he groaned, rolling his head around his shoulders. He tried to move his hands, quickly realizing that he couldn't. His eyes opened and he tried to crane his head to see his cuffed wrists, looking forward again and meeting the stares of an angry hybrid, a witch, and a sort-of human.

Klaus stepped forward, bending to eye level. "Who are you?"

The man gave him a smirk. "That's not going to work bloodsucker."

Klaus had tried to compel him. He straightened and pulled at the lapels of his jacket, undeterred by the small misfortune. "Well then, I suppose we can do this the hard way."

"Whoa, whoa," the man said, holding up a foot in defense. "No need to be nasty. I have nothing to hide."

"Who are you?" It was Bonnie who spoke up, her stern tone sounding miles away from its usual friendly note.

"Name's Vaughn. Galen Vaughn."

"You're obviously not from here," Klaus said. "Why are you in Mystic Falls?"

"Looking for her," he nodded in Caroline's direction.

"You're from the island," Caroline repeated. "How did you even find me?"

He jerked his chin to his vest. "Left pocket."

Caroline met Bonnie's eyes and then she stepped forward, reaching into Vaughn's pocket. Klaus watched her and the hunter carefully, wary for any sudden movements. She pulled her hand out, holding a wallet, and stepped back.

"It's my wallet," Caroline said, flipping it open to reveal her license and credit cards still intact. No wonder Vaughn had known her name, birthday, and address. It had been in her jacket pocket that she had been wearing and discarded on the island.

"Seems you dropped it," he said. "I picked it up and used it to track you down."

"Why bother?" Bonnie asked. "Why come all this way to kill one vampire?"

"She not a vampire anymore though, is she?" He replied.

"That doesn't answer the question," Klaus interjected. He was itching to cause the man some serious pain. If this Galen Vaughn was partially responsible for putting Caroline's life in danger, there was no way he would be leaving in one piece. Maybe it was a good thing Klaus couldn't kill him. It would simply force him to be more…creative in his punishment.

"I don't want to _kill_ her," Vaughn told them.

Caroline blinked. "You don't?"

"No," he continued. "I don't. But Silas will."

"Silas?" Both Bonnie and Caroline said the name at the same time.

"You woke the beast," the hunter told him. "You stole his cure and drank it and it became part of your blood. So he'll track you down, drain you, and then become vulnerable. Then I'll kill him and fulfill the destiny of the Brotherhood of the Five."

Caroline shook her head in confusion. "Wait a minute, how is he going to become human by drinking my blood? Am I the vampire cure now?"

"A vampire cure?" Vaughn repeated, mirroring her confusion from his chair. "Is that what you think you took?" He laughed, dropping his head and shaking it back and forth in disbelief. "I've heard a lot of mistranslations of the legend but you honestly think you took a cure for vampirism? You can't be serious."

Vaughn seemed to be getting a huge kick out of some joke that the rest of them weren't in on. His head fell back and he roared with laughter, stomping his feet as he continued to laugh.

Klaus rolled his eyes and grit his teeth. The laughter was cut off with a curse of pain as Klaus reached forward and popped the Hunter's shoulder out of place, just as Caroline had attempted to do before. Vaughn glared up at Klaus as he stepped back, leaning to favor his injured sigh.

Caroline spoke up. "It's a cure for immortality—"

"The potion isn't a cure for vampirism or immortality," Vaughn growled. "It's a cure for _invincibility_. The spell Silas and Qetsiyah created was an invincibility spell. It prevented them from dying from disease, murder, suicide, anything you could think of that would possibly kill a normal human."

Invincibility and immortality-so close in meaning and yet so different. Rebekah had gotten it wrong. Shane had gotten it wrong. They had all gotten it wrong.

"That doesn't explain why I become the cure though," Caroline pointed out.

"Christ!" Vaughn shouted. "Don't you people know anything about magic, potions? Why do you go fooling around with things that you don't understand?"

Vaughn's lecture ended as Klaus's first shot out, connecting with his jaw and knocking him out cold again.

"Klaus!" Caroline yelled.

"I was tired of listening to him," Klaus shrugged, shaking out his fist, the broken skin on his knuckles knitting back together.

"You can't keep knocking people out because you don't like what they're saying," she chided.

"He's right though," Bonnie said. "I don't know anything about potions or how they work."

Caroline turned to her friend and put a hand on her arm. "Bonnie, this is not the time for self blame. We all jumped into this not knowing anything." She turned and saw Klaus untying Vaughn, hauling his limp body over his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"Taking him back to the mansion," Klaus answered. "So I can lock him up in a more suitable arena." Caroline rolled her eyes, knowing that suitable, he meant painful. Caroline and Bonnie followed Klaus outside. He placed Vaughn in the trunk of Caroline's car and shut him inside. "Call Stefan and tell him to meet us."

"Okay," Caroline said, pulling her phone from her pocket. Bonnie went around to the passenger side door of the car and opened it. "Why am I dragging Stefan into this?"

"We might need a bit of backup for the next part of the plan."

"Which is…"

"I'm going to wake up Kol."

* * *

**Once again, I'm changing canon on the cure legend/plot. Hope you guys are keeping up with it all!**

**Kol's coming back next chapter and he is none to pleased with Klaus for daggering him. **

**Anyways, let me know your thoughts! Thanks for reading!**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey all! So I've update both of my fics this week! In case you don't read the other fic I have going right now, and missed out on my lame apology, I didn't update last week because I was busy participating in GISHWHES. Basically, all of my spare brain power went to that.**

**Speaking of brain power, this chapter didn't turn out quite the way I hoped, but I decided to quit obsessing and just let you guys have a go at it. Maybe it's not as terrible as I think (...maybe it's worse :p)**

**Beware of canon changes!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

.

.

Stefan arrived at the Mikaelson mansion and they all watched as Klaus pulled the dagger out of Kol's heart. They all knew that when Kol woke up, he would be angry. It would be Stefan's job to help Klaus make sure Kol didn't cause too much damage with his temper tantrum. "It's not really a tantrum when you were the dick who daggered him in the first place," Stefan commented, not thrilled that he was volunteered to help with Kol control. Klaus would be impervious to Kol's more violent nature, Stefan on the other hand, could actually be killed.

Klaus ignored him, wiping the blood from the dagger and taking it away to hide it once again. Caroline remained, staring at Kol's greyed skin and closed eyes. Her fingers curled around the coffin, just brushing the lush, pillowed interior of Kol's resting place. Bonnie came up beside her.

"I don't know," she said. "I think I like him better this way." Caroline snorted out a laugh and Bonnie smiled. "Not randomly showing up at the grill on a Friday night and pretending that we had plans to have a date and it must have slipped my mind."

"That was a bold move," Caroline recalled.

Bonnie scoffed. "Yeah if by bold you mean irritating."

It would be a few hours or so until the sleeping Original came back to the world. The foursome split up, to pass the time until Kol awoke.

Klaus stashed Vaughn in what Caroline and Stefan referred to as his Red Room of Pain. He chained the hunter up and left him to hang for the time being, until they might need him again.

Bonnie retreated to the library with Shane's book of Runes, still attempting to translate anything. They were hoping that Kol would get over his anger quickly and be willing to help them.

Stefan lounged in one of the sitting rooms with a bottle of scotch, waiting for the moment he was needed. Even though he complained about helping Klaus, Caroline suspected that he was secretly glad to do it; perhaps not as a result of any friendly feelings toward Klaus, but because it got his mind off Elena and Damon.

Caroline slipped out the back door and headed for the garden, seeking a quiet place of her own. It was her favorite part of Klaus's home.

In a mansion of that size, finding solitude wasn't usually such a difficult task. The Mikaelsons's home had been different. Rebekah always seemed to be flitting from room to room, talking about redecorating and making some sort of plans, or just chattering away to Caroline. Kol always had a knack for popping up at inopportune times-or maybe opportune moments, from his point of view. Sometimes even finding a moment or two away from Klaus was difficult. Not that she didn't love being with him every moment she could, but she didn't want to be co-dependent. A girl needed her space.

Things had changed now. Kol had been daggered, Rebekah was missing, and Elijah had been away for months now in parts unknown-what was once a warm, welcoming place now seemed like an empty tomb.

She walked to the gazebo, taking a seat in the large swing in the center of it. Floral cushions welcomed her body and she laid back and closed her eyes, pulling in a deep, soothing breath.

The gazebo had been a birthday present from Klaus, modeled after a gazebo that she had spent many lazy hours lounging in when they were staying in the south of France. She had enjoyed waking up early in the mornings, watching the sun rise with a cup of peach tea, and letting the motion of the swing rock her into contentment. In that swing she had dreamed about her future, ignoring how silly it might be to do so. She thought about what it would be like to marry Klaus, even if she didn't want to make that commitment for many, many years.

Caroline knew that she spent too much of her teen years watching and loving romantic movies. She would use them for inspiration, picturing herself in a white dress, train flowing behind her as she stepped toward Klaus. She imagined what his tuxedo would look like, black with a little blue flower pinned to his jacket, the color bringing out his eyes. He would protest, of course, but she would insist.

His family would be there and her friends would surround them and it was such a fairytale vision that it always made her laugh to think of it.

In the present, the night wind rocked the swing and a tear slipped from her closed eyes.

_Caroline…_

_ I'm close, Caroline._

_ Caroline._

"Caroline," she shot up to a sitting position and saw Klaus coming toward her from the house. "I thought I might find you out here."

"You were looking for me?" He nodded. "Is Kol awake?"

"Do you think I would be standing here if he were?"

"Why did you decide to undagger him?"

"It seemed inevitable," Klaus replied. "Perhaps he'll be less angry that it was only a week."

"Yeah, what's a week when you'll be alive forever," she scoffed. "Speaking of siblings…I haven't seen Rebekah since we returned."

"She's hiding," Klaus replied, a sneer curving his lip. "It's cowardly, but smart. When I find her I'll lock her in a box for the next century." He saw Caroline's opinion on that reflected in her eyes. "You don't think I should?"

"I just don't think you should punish everyone in your life the second they disappoint you."

Klaus balked. "Are you defending Rebekah to me? After what she did to you?"

"No," Caroline said, swinging her legs around and planting her feet on the ground. "Believe me, I'd love the chance to take a crack at her and kick her ass for putting all our lives in danger but…with people you love, you're supposed to give them a second chance."

"They've done nothing to earn one."

Caroline let out a wry laugh. "That's just it. Second chances aren't _earned_, they're offered."

Klaus replied with a sharp turn of his head and Caroline let out a defeated breath. She ran her hands along the fabric of the cushions next to her, one finger tracing the green vine painted onto the soft material.

"Will you keep it?"

"Keep what?"

"This," she answered, indicating the swing and gazebo. "You never really spend much time out here."

"It belongs to you," he replied simply, he turned and walked down the steps heading in the direction of the trees at the back of the property. Caroline got up and followed him.

"Klaus, stop walking away from me."

"Caroline," he sighed turning toward her. "Say what you want to say."

She licked her lips, taking a step forward. Her skin prickled with anxiousness. "Why can't you be honest with me?"

"Why can't you trust me?" he countered.

"You never tell me anything! Ever since all this cure stuff started, it's been nothing but secrets and half truths."

"I'm not the only one guilty of hiding things."

"No," she admitted, "but two wrongs don't make a right." She looked over at the trees, their surroundings a bit darker now that they had moved further away from the house. "I guess we never did get the honesty thing right."

"No," he said with a slight smirk. "We didn't."

"So this is it then?" Caroline said, the words sticking in her throat. "We just move on?"

"I'm not going to leave you like this," Klaus replied, stepping toward her. "I will find a way to make you safe. That was all I wanted in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to find Qetsiyah, and the immortality spell," Klaus told her. "For you, Caroline. It was all for you."

"But I _am_ immortal," she replied. "Or I was."

Klaus felt the pull of her eyes. The vulnerable hues of blue hoping for something he just couldn't give. He reached up toward her for a moment, but then pulled away, turning in the direction of the trees. Caroline stayed behind him. "You can't even touch me anymore. What are you so afraid of?"

"You!" he rounded on her at frightening speed, his eyes glowing. "I'm afraid of you!"

"Of me?"

Her breath caught at the intensity of his eyes-half-wolf, half human, all terrifying. His breath came in sharp, heaving increments as he attempted to center his control. He wanted to lunge at her and shake her for daring to come into his life. He wanted to take her somewhere and lock her away where she could never be hurt. But he could never put her in a cage—clipping her wings and never letting her fly. If he did, she wouldn't be Caroline.

Any further explanation he was about to offer was silenced as something flicked by them, knocking Klaus into the trees. He heard his bones crack, or maybe it was just the sound of the tree he hit.

Caroline's eyes went wide and she started forward, but stopped when she saw who had Klaus by his throat.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you," he growled, slamming Klaus against the tree one more time.

Kol was awake.

* * *

.

.

Klaus hoped that the second chance Caroline had been talking about would be kicking in at any moment. Kol seemed intent on thrashing him around and wouldn't be satisfied until he had ripped him to pieces. Even though it seemed like Kol had the upper hand in the fight, Klaus was mostly letting him win. Better for his little brother to get out his frustrations now, than to have him take them out elsewhere.

"You manipulative, controlling, selfish bastard!" Kol shouted as he tossed him into the air again, hissing at him.

Kol grabbed a fallen branch from the ground and snapped it over his knee, breaking it into a crude stake. He stalked toward Klaus, eyes red with anger and shoulders tensed. He let out an angry cry at the same time Caroline shouted at him, rushing in his direction.

Klaus froze as he watched her move. "Caroline! No!"

Caroline grabbed Kol's free hand, rendering him powerless, and swung him against the nearest tree. Kol hit and dropped to the ground, sitting there as his face registered his loss and gain of strength.

"What the hell…" he trailed off, his eyes flicking from Klaus to Caroline.

"A lot has happened since you've been sleeping brother," Klaus said, dusting off his sleeves. "If you're finished throwing me around, perhaps we should go inside and talk."

Kol stood, a deep V marking the space between his brows, and leaves falling from his trousers. He stormed back toward the house, throwing once last withering glance over his shoulders at Klaus.

Caroline let out a sigh of relief. That hadn't been so bad. She took a step forward, but Klaus's hand wrapped around her sleeved arm, pulling her back and spinning her around.

"Don't ever do that again," he growled.

"Do what?"

"Use this power of yours to break up a fight," he told her. "First Rebekah, now Kol. Next time it might not be someone who cares enough to stop themselves from hurting you."

"Well, excuse me if I don't appreciate seeing you kicked around, even if you do sort of deserve it."

His lip lifted, but he was still irritated. "I appreciate that, love. But I'd rather suffer a few momentary bruises that have something dire happen to you."

It was the closest he had come to admitting any remaining feeling for her in over a week. She nodded, a promise that she would hold back on trying to defend him. His hand still gripped her arm, fingers pressing into the sleeve of her sweater. It was also the most he had touched her in a week. Caroline felt a wave of lust sweep through her, and looked up to see it mirrored in Klaus's gaze. The sight of him licking his lips made her skin burn for more of his touch.

He released her and took a step away. "We should go inside," he said, his voice husky. Klaus spun on his heel and moved toward the house.

Caroline released a long breath. "Okay," she whispered to herself in the darkness. "Okay."

* * *

.

.

Klaus, Caroline, Kol, Bonnie, and Stefan all gathered in the main sitting room, ready to fill Kol on everything that had happened. Kol glowered at Klaus, who kept shooting looks to him and then Caroline, wondering if his brother might make a retaliatory move. But she didn't seem to be in danger. His brother was more focused on the anger directed at him, and following along with the story each of them was attempting to piece together.

"So where _is_ our turncoat sister?" Kol asked.

"Hiding out," Klaus answered. "I don't know where."

Caroline saw the tension in Kol's shoulders release a bit. He was relieved that Klaus hadn't done something to her. "And Silas?"

"We haven't heard anything from Silas," Stefan replied.

"But the hunter said he'll be coming for Caroline," Bonnie added.

"He will," Kol affirmed, his brown eyes flicking over at Caroline. "You're a dead woman walking."

"Kol…" Klaus growled.

"Is she frightened?" Kol continued, stepping up. "She should be. We _all_ should be. You made a mistake by not listening to me, brother." Kol chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Poetic isn't it, your meddling and obsession with saving her has turned out to be the very thing that will kill her."

Caroline held back a flinch at the finger Kol was pointing in her direction.

"Enough!" Klaus barked.

"And now I suppose you want my help? After you've ignored my warnings for so long." Kol didn't let the threat of Klaus's anger stop him. "You can go to hell, Nik. Which, judging by our current circumstances, won't be too long in coming."

Kol stomped out of the room, hitting Klaus in the shoulder as he went. Klaus turned to go after him. Kol _would_ be helping them, whether he wanted to or not.

"Wait," Caroline said making him pause. Klaus looked back at her. "Give him some time."

"We don't have time."

Caroline's head shook from left to right. "We don't have a choice."

* * *

.

.

Caroline was in the study with Bonnie, looking over the runes, still trying to translate them. It was exhausting. Every symbol they had to look up and quadruple check just to be sure that they were getting the translation correct—and that was if they could even manage to find it in the first place. Caroline looked up from one of her copied pages to see Bonnie, passed out on the chaise. A glance at the clock told her they had been awake almost the whole night.

She wanted to keep working, to keep her mind focused on anything other than her earlier discussion with Klaus. However as a yawn rumbled past her lips, she thought that perhaps a few hours of sleep couldn't hurt.

Caroline set aside her pages, and ventured upstairs to claim one of the guest rooms.

She passed by the door to Kol's room, seeing it open. The curtains surrounding the doors to his balcony caught her attention, billowing like ghosts in the darkness.

The breeze shifted the material again and she saw Kol sitting just beyond the doors with a bottle in his hands. She hesitated, a bit nervous about approaching him in case he decided to take his anger at Klaus out on her. Before Rebekah's betrayal, she might have thought that the Original siblings had come to care about her, but now she knew better than to rely on that.

Not to mention, Kol was far scarier to her when he released his temper.

Kol always had a smile on his face or a joke on his tongue. Seeing him drop the jovial attitude and snarl and snap like an angry dog was a bit terrifying.

He heard her coming closer and turned his head slightly in her direction.

"Caroline," he greeted holding up the bottle. "Come to join me?"

She walked out onto the balcony and took the vacant chair next to him. Kol did in fact have a smile on his face, but it was a sad one. "Don't worry," he told her, "I'm not going to hurt you to get back at my brother."

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied.

"The truth is," he continued. "I like you. I'm very glad Nik stopped me from killing you when we first met."

She laughed at his grin. "Me, too."

"I was just sitting here thinking," Kol said. "What I might do with the little time we have left…now that Silas is free."

"Why is he such a threat?"

Kol took a swig. "Before Qetsiyah died-after she killed Silas's lover-she created a sort of limbo to contain any dead supernatural creature; witch, wolf, vampire, any of those that existed and had yet to exist. If Silas took the cure and died, he would still die as a supernatural, and be trapped in the supernatural purgatory, without his lady who was human and would go to the normal, human afterlife. Whatever that may be."

"That's why supernaturals can't cross over," Caroline mused.

"Correct. It's like a thin sheet between two rooms. Silas will want to drop the veil which holds that dimension from ours and if he does that it will bring all the dead back to Earth," Kol turned his head, giving her a meaningful look. "Think about it. Every vampire or witch or wolf we've killed over the course of our lives, all gunning to take us down." He took another sip, the alcohol filling his throat. "Once the veil is dropped, Silas can take his cure and let himself be killed, and thus be able to rejoin his true love." He let out another sad chuckle, throwing back one final swallow and setting the bottle down. The glass clinked on the stone of the balcony.

In the distance, yellow kissed horizon turning the black sky a deep shade of ocean blue. That feeling of exhaustion began to creep up again as Caroline sat in silence with Kol. "It's always about love, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" she murmured, realizing that she had been close to dozing off in the chair.

"Wars are waged, morals forgotten, the entire Earth shattered to bits all because of love," he said, the alcohol in his system making him more poetic than usual. "I loved a girl once." Caroline's gave him a skeptical look. "I know what you're thinking…Kol Mikaelson how could you punish the entire female population by committing yourself to a single woman."

"Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking," Caroline teased.

Kol laughed and continued with his story. "It was 1620, I'd just arrived in India, hitched a ride on one of the British East India Company's ships…heard all about the exotic new colonies and just had to have a taste for myself," Kol eyes crinkled as the happy memories began to play out in his mind. "I met Zania a week or so after I first arrived. She was beautiful, absolutely perfect. And she hated me."

"Imagine that," Caroline interjected, thinking of how much Kol bothered Bonnie with his flirting. She listened, as Kol told her the story of how he and Zania first met, how he fell for her, and how long it took for him to win her affection. "We were together for almost half a year," Kol said, his voice growing sad.

"What happened?"

"I turned her," Kol replied. Caroline's eyes widened. She wasn't expecting that part. "And then Mikael killed her. Apparently he found it was quite a thrill to watch his children lose the ones they loved, after he killed you in front of Nik."

Kol transformed before her eyes. He was no longer simply the smooth talking, quick smiling original vampire brother she had come to know. None of them ever took him seriously before, because Kol only operated on either humor or temper. There didn't seem to be a serious bone in his body. But now she could see it-the sad edge to his smile, the pain around his eyes. He had been through the same sort of suffering they all had.

He spoke up again. "I never told anyone about her. Mikael let me go free, to live with the agony, and I found my way back to London and Rebekah and Nik as fast as I could."

"You never even told them?"

"No one," Kol repeated. "That's what kills me about Nik. He was lucky—the bastard-he got you back. And he doesn't even appreciate it."

Caroline's chest tightened. "I don't even know what is going on with us."

"Oh, he loves you," Kol affirmed, grabbing the bottle again as the sky became more orange. "It's just hidden behind fear. And obsession."

"Then that's not love," Caroline sighed. She hated admitting it. "I don't even know how to begin to move on—"

"There is no moving on."

"Well if he's afraid of me, of what I am now…"

Kol laughed. "Darling, you could turn into a toad and Nik would still love you until the end of time."

"Yeah, well toads usually need a kiss to break the spell and turn them back to normal. He won't even touch me now."

"Well, I can step in if my brother is unwilling," Kol leaned toward her, puckering his lips and making exaggerated kissing noises.

Caroline swatted him away. "I'm good. Thanks."

"Here," Kol said handing her the bottle. "I'm sure you could use a bit yourself." She wrapped her hand around the neck and took it from him, lifting it to her lips. "Only go easy. You're human now, which means you are once again a lightweight. Don't expect me to hold your hair back from the toilet like a sorority girl when you've had too much."

Caroline rolled her eyes, and took a sip of the rum in Kol's bottle, letting the alcohol dull her senses and quiet her mind enough for her to sleep.

* * *

.

.

Dawn was breaking, and he couldn't find Caroline. He had just come back from a hunt. Between his argument with Caroline and his fight with Kol, he needed to vent some of his anger before he exploded. The next town over provided a few drunken tourists for him to feed. He could taste the abundance of alcohol in their blood, the bitter taste of it mixing with the sweet, coppered taste he craved.

Her car was still parked in the driveway, so she hadn't gone home. Bonnie was fast asleep in the study, the book of runes lay open on top of her, moving up and down with each of her breaths. He'd checked the guest rooms, thinking perhaps she had gone to bed, but she wasn't in any of them.

He thought for a moment that perhaps she had gone to his room and fell asleep in his bed. But why would she? She was angry with him. And it was his own fault. It was better for her to be angry though, at the present moment. Her anger always resulted in her keeping her distance and distance would make things easier.

Still, he half hoped he'd find her in his bed, filling his sheets with her warm, vanilla scent.

His hopes were dashed, as he passed Kol's room and saw his brother carrying her in from the balcony.

A knife of envy twisted in his gut at seeing her fast asleep in his brother's arms. The envy wasn't born of suspicion—the way Kol was handling her was completely innocent. Kol's forearm connected with the bare skin at the back of Caroline's legs, rendering him human. He was using his own human strength to carry her and he didn't seem the least bit bothered by it.

He saw his brother tense as he recognized Klaus in his doorway.

"She was exhausted," Kol said, keeping his voice quiet. "I thought she might want to rest in a proper bed. I was taking her to one of the guest rooms."

"Put her in my room," Klaus replied.

Kol hesitated, judgment filling his features, but he relented and stepped past Klaus, bringing Caroline into his bedroom. She must have been exhausted. Not once did she stir as Klaus followed Kol into his room. Kol set her down gently, on top of the sheets, and arranging her head so that it laid comfortably on the pillow. Caroline turned her face, nuzzling into the softness, but remained asleep.

The two men locked eyes and stepped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind them.

"She thinks you don't love her," Kol said, once they were alone in the hallway.

"I know," Klaus replied.

Kol let out a harsh laugh, shaking his head at his stupid brother. "She's not me or Rebekah or Elijah, Nik. You can't treat her like she doesn't matter if you don't truly feel that way. She's a strong girl. She'll leave you, Nik. And unlike your family—who tolerates your temper tantrums and your impulsiveness—she won't come back."

Klaus swallowed and answered him with a cold stare. "So you'll help us then."

Kol let a long pause draw out between them, before he gave his answer. "On one condition," he said. "You give me my dagger." Klaus's jaw tensed at his brother's demand. "You give me control of my life, Niklaus. No more throwing me into a coffin every time you feel I've displeased you. You are not a king, I am not your servant, we are family, but you do not get to have complete control over my life. That is my condition. Give me the dagger and I will help you."

Klaus stood there, not making a move, not wanting to give up the one thing that he valued the most: control. He had already lost so much of it already.

"I'll give you some time to think it over," Kol said. "But don't waste it." He gestured to the bedroom door. "She's mortal now and her clock is ticking."

Kol moved past him again—without knocking into his shoulder this time-and headed into his room, shutting the door.

Klaus remained in the hallway, looking at his door, thinking about what was sleeping behind it.

_Second chances aren't earned, they're offered._

_._

_._

Later that day, Kol emerged from his room once again and found a small box in front of his bedroom door. A small smile curved across his cheek as he looked down at the black dagger placed inside.

* * *

**I kind of made up a little head canon for Kol in this one. He loved, he lost, it was very, very painful.**

**If Klaus seems a little all over the place, that's because he is...I hope that is coming through as an intentional choice and not bad writing :/**

**Anyways...blah! Hope you enjoyed reading.**

**Thanks to Klausykins for the beta work.**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	9. Chapter 9

**Back this week with another update! I've gotta say, your reviews last chapter really encouraged me and got the writer muscles flexing! So thank you very, very much. You can pat yourselves on the back for the quickness of this update.**

**Second-for people who perhaps don't follow me on Tumblr-I have a poll going in honor of my blog's second bday coming up in a few months. You can vote for a "follow up" one-shot for one of my fics. If this is something that you would like to do, head over to hybridlovelies . tumblr . com (without the spaces) and I'll be reblogging that voting post again just after I update.**

**Third-Did you guys know that the Klaroline Awards are happening again? They are currently taking nominations. Apparently you Timeless lovers have been nominating it for awards (yay! Thank You!) but since I wrote it last year, it is ineligible. But, if you do want to show your love and nominate something Timeless related you can nominate this story (of course) or the One-Shot Limitless, in any of the one shot categories.**

**Okay, business done.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

.

Despite falling asleep as the sun rose-and the exhausting day before-Caroline's internal alarm clock still woke her in time for school. She opened her eyes; her face smashed into a large, soft pillow and wondered how she had ended up in Klaus's bed. The ache in her chest was overshadowed by the dull throb at the top of her forehead and as she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, she began to regret the drinks she had shared with Kol on the balcony during their sunrise heart to heart. He'd been right, she was a lightweight now.

She glanced over, noticing the crisp, smooth set of the covers-a sign that the other side of the bed hadn't been slept in—and deliberated again whether or not Klaus had put her to bed after she had passed out. Kol could have been the one to do it, not realizing that she and Klaus were…at odds, so to speak.

She headed to the en suite bathroom to freshen up and then made her way downstairs. The house was silent, yellow sunlight pouring in through the sky lights above and illuminating the grand staircase as she descended. _Everyone must still be sleeping_, she thought. She crept out the front door and headed toward her car, still parked in the large driveway. Her school things were still in the back seat. She told herself that she had to go school that day. No more putting it off. Life was going to continue whether she was vampire or not.

Whether Klaus still loved her or not.

Her radio came on as she turned the ignition. Some morning talk shows hosts sounding much too chipper for how she was feeling. She turned the knob as she backed out of the driveway, content to pass the time in silence.

As she drove, Caroline replayed the conversation she'd had with Kol the night before inside of her head. Deep down, she knew he was right about Klaus's feelings. The hybrid had never been great at showing emotion, she knew that from the moment she dropped into the past and they began their romance. He'd tried to push her away before, but it hadn't worked, and in the end he had given into his love for her and chose her love over everything else in his life. She had realized after that, that a guy didn't just go for centuries loving a girl, all the while thinking she was dead, only to throw it away the second he learned she was, in fact, alive. That would just be stupid.

She wanted to be confident, she really did. But they had both believed that they hadn't already survived the worst together. Her friends, his crimes, hybrids, old grudges, death…they had come out on top of it all.

She paused at a red traffic signal and looked down at her hands. Her touch. It wasn't even the fact that she was human, it was the fact that by touching him, she made him human too. It was a weakness. And there was nothing he hated more than having a weakness.

Tears pricked the back of her eyes. She didn't want to be his weakness. She wanted to be his strength, his equal.

A horn blared behind her, shaking her from her depressed musings. She stepped on the gas and continued until she got to school.

She parked her car in the Mystic High parking lot and pulled an emergency bag of makeup up from her glove box. A little bit of concealer for those dark circles, some blush, mascara, and lip-gloss and she was ready to attack the day. A yawn bubbled from her throat as she double-checked her appearance in her mirror.

"Hey," Matt greeted her as she walked into first period and took her seat. "Didn't expect to see you today."

Caroline shrugged. Gone was the need to overcompensate for her mood, the way she felt she needed to the day before. "Yeah well, life goes on."

Apparently, that was going to be her new mantra.

"Where'd you go yesterday?" Matt asked. "I noticed both you and Stefan were gone."

Caroline knew that Matt hadn't noticed that. _Elena_ had noticed and had mentioned it to Matt. "We went to check out some stuff at Shane's office," Caroline replied. "Figure out what he might have not been telling us about the cure and why I now have this freaky power."

She filled Matt in on the events of the day before, including the trip to Shane's office, running into Klaus, the hunter visiting her home, and waking up Kol. It really had been a busy day, maybe she should have ditched again.

Matt winced. "So Klaus is pretty pissed at Rebekah still?"

"Um, _yeah_," Caroline affirmed. "I am too. This is all her fault."

"Yeah, I mean she was pretty lame about the whole thing," Matt agreed. "But she had her reasons. I guess."

Caroline's gaze narrowed and she watched Matt's cerulean eyes dart around the room. He shifted in his seat. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Kinda."

"Since when are you on Rebekah's side of things? I thought you didn't like her?"

"I didn't—I don't! I just—"

The bell rang and their teacher shut the door, calling attention to the front of the class. Caroline's eyes went back to Matt as their teacher started taking attendance. She noticed the odd tension in the way he held himself and how he was trying very hard not to look at her again. Her mouth twisted. Matt was being weird about something.

However, as soon as class started it seemed that the rest of her concentration was dominated with human things. She couldn't control Klaus or what was happening to her, so she focus her efforts on the things she could control. During classes she made special effort to pay attention, taking copious notes and participating in the lectures. Her lunch was spent contacting her fellow prom committee members and arranging the meeting she was supposed to have with them the day before, for after school. They grumbled but agreed, unable to deny her enthusiasm. Maybe she would try to run out before the end of last period—her study hall—and go buy some refreshments for the group. The promise of free food always put people in a good mood.

She pulled back into the parking lot, just as the end of day bell rang, balancing a try of snacks in her arm and a coffee in her hand. The exhaustion was starting to catch up with her and she was in need of a caffeine boost. She walked into the classroom where their committee was meeting and saw Kol, sitting at the back of the room, charming a few of her fellow cheerleaders. They giggled—actually giggled—at something he said and Caroline nearly gagged on her coffee.

Kol flashed her a smile when he saw her walk into the room.

"Excuse me, ladies," he said to his female audience, breaking away from them and heading to the front of the room where Caroline was setting down the snacks.

"Cheese and crackers," Kol nodded. "No cupcakes?"

"With the sodas still in my back seat," Caroline replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to find you," he grinned. Caroline's eyes slid over Kol's shoulder, toward his admirers. The girls were making sour faces at the fact that she had stolen his attention.

"Why don't you help me bring the rest of the stuff in," she suggested, moving closer to him so she could whisper. "We'll talk outside."

Kol threw a glance over his shoulder. "Good idea."

Most of the students were gone by now, only a few lingered around cars at the edge of the parking lot. Too far away to hear anything that would be said. She handed Kol the case of soda and took the cupcakes from her back seat.

"So, while you've been at school playing queen bee," Kol began. "Lovely Bonnie and I have been translating the runes from Shane's books." Caroline shut her car door and locked it. They headed back toward the building. "You know she's an excellent pupil. Bright, eager to learn, susceptible to instruction…"

"Okay, calm down," Caroline interjected, noting the dreamy look in his eyes. "Did you manage to find out anything useful in between hitting on my best friend?"

"Other than the fact that I think Bonnie is starting to warm up to me?" Kol smirked at the wry look Caroline shot him. "Yes. And Klaus got some information out of the hunter."

"That's great!" she exclaimed as Kol held open the door for her. "What'd you find?"

Kol shook his head. "Not here," they stood in the empty hallway. "Come back to the mansion."

"I have prom committee first," she replied. "Then I can come over."

Kol scoffed. "You don't think there are slightly more pressing matters than a silly high school prom?"

"I know you think it's dumb," Caroline said. "But if we can't figure out a way for me to be a vampire again—then this is it. I have to live in the now. As much as I can."

"Well, I can't argue with that, I suppose," Kol said after a moment. "After you."

He held the door open for her once again, and followed her into the classroom, taking a seat at the back near the girls and settling in until Caroline had finished her meeting.

* * *

.

Klaus left the hunter in the room, writhing and yelling in pain. He'd gotten all of the information he needed out of him. He couldn't kill him—but he could cause him a severe amount of pain.

Kol had gone out to fetch Caroline from school. Klaus couldn't believe she had gone, but on second thought it made complete sense. She always clung to her normal human life as much as she could. Her traditions were important to her: high school, prom, graduation—all things that she had made clear to him she would want to experience. Even though she would have an endless amount of lifetimes and chances to live each of the experiences, these that she shared with her friends and family were the ones that truly meant something. And now, if she wouldn't be a vampire again, they might be the only ones she ever had.

No, he couldn't think like that. He wouldn't let his mind go down that trail of thought.

He shut the door to the room and locked it, moving down the hallway. Movement in the kitchen made him switch direction and he saw Bonnie, helping herself to a glass of water.

She stopped mid-sip, her eyes going wide as she saw him standing in the arched doorway. In an instant she masked her distress, her soft features hardening into a stone fortress against him. Klaus could still smell her fear. He was hybrid—part werewolf, wholly predator, and it was coming off her in waves.

The witch was uncomfortable being in the home of vampires. He observed it when he had been eavesdropping on her magical lesson with Kol. She had been tense—not just because of his brother's incessant flirting—but because she was always on guard. It had dropped, in small increments as their session had moved on and she became more used to Kol, but she had never completely let go.

The Bennett line's prejudices ran deep. Klaus knew that Bonnie wasn't even aware of the full extent of grudges her family held against his. Perhaps if she did know, she wouldn't be at all willing to help them, even if it meant protecting her friend.

Klaus leaned against the doorway, relaxing his posture. "No need to be afraid love, I'm not going to harm you."

Bonnie didn't look convinced, but she forced herself to relax, continuing to sip her glass of water. It must have been a testament to her exhaustion the night before, that she had been able to fall asleep in the study. She set the glass down on the island counter and fixed her hands against the surface.

"So," the witch spoke. "If this plan doesn't work, what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked.

"If Caroline is mortal again," Bonnie clarified, "permanently, with her new power and none of it can be corrected or reversed, then what will do you? Will you try to lock her up like you do with your siblings?"

Klaus frowned. "If that is the case, Caroline will be free to live as she chooses."

"Because you haven't thought of a way to trap her or because you truly would want that for her?"

His eyes narrowed, annoyed by the girl's tone. "I'm not sure I understand what you are implying, witch."

"I'm implying, _hybrid_, that I will not be doing any spells for you so that you can hold Caroline captive or put her in some weird coma while you spend centuries looking for a way to fix her."

Klaus glared. The witch hadn't come to this conclusion by herself, these thoughts sang of Kol's influence and bitterness. "I actually hadn't thought of that, but now it seems like a viable contingency plan. If you won't cooperate I'm certain I can find a witch who would."

He was bluffing. Klaus wouldn't do that to Caroline, no matter how much he did toy around with the thought. But Bonnie didn't need to know that. Intimidation was much more effective when the imagination of one's opponent did half the work.

"I'm serious," Bonnie said. "It's Caroline's decision. If she wants to pursue this plan then we will. But if she wants to leave it alone, then we honor that choice."

Klaus pushed off the wall, walking over to Bonnie, using his most threatening gait. He gave her credit that she held back her flinch, and didn't break their eye contact. He stood over her—almost a foot-invading her personal space.

The witch was barely aware of her own power. She hadn't received proper training or instruction and wasn't fully aware of the history of her own bloodline. Klaus knew. He knew that she could blow him apart with the flick of a finger if he pissed her off enough. She could raise the dead or make cities crumble to ash if she ever bothered to learn her own capabilities.

"Let's get this straight now, witch," Klaus replied. "If you think anyone here is in control other than me, then you haven't been paying attention. I will decide what is best for Caroline and she and the rest of you will deal with that."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Bonnie sneered at him. A muffled scream came from the hunter in the room down the hall, the sound cracking Bonnie's fearless shield. "What was that?"

"Just a reminder," Klaus told her, letting a sinister smile curve his lip. "Of what I'm capable of doing to those that get in my way." He spun from her then, heading out of the room.

"You wouldn't hurt any of us," Bonnie countered in a loud voice. However, her words didn't hold the confidence that they had before, her ingrained fears and prejudices leaking into them.

Klaus took full advantage, turning back to her. "You might be surprised at what I would do, to protect those I care about," he answered. "I'm sure you, as well as the rest of your friends, would understand that. Considering the deaths you all have under your belts."

"That's different," Bonnie argued.

Klaus smiled. "Is it? Well then, you've told me."

As he walked into the hallway, his phone rang. He looked down and saw it was Stefan calling.

"Have you been stealing blood bags from the hospital?" Stefan asked when he answered.

It was an odd question. He kept blood bags in his home for Caroline—she preferred them to hunting humans—but neither he nor his siblings used them much. They had an ample supply stored away that wasn't dwindling now that Caroline was human. In fact, Klaus hadn't replenished it in weeks.

"No," he responded. "Why do you ask?"

"Damon got a called from Meredith," Stefan explained. "Apparently their supplies are low. She thought maybe Elena was using more because she's a new vampire, but Damon said she's been drinking a normal amount."

"Perhaps there's a new vampire in town?" Klaus mused.

"There would have to be more than one to make that large of a dent. And if there was more than one, wouldn't we have noticed something?"

Perhaps, Klaus thought. Then again all of their collective attentions had been elsewhere. This was just what they needed. "Keep an eye out for anyone new in town," Klaus instructed. "In fact, you should probably drop by. I'll need your assistance with a little task that needs to be done."

"You know I'm not at your beck and call anymore, Klaus," Stefan said.

Klaus grinned. "_You_ called _me_, Stefan."

Stefan hung up on him.

* * *

.

Caroline and Kol went to the mansion after prom committee. Of course, not a lot had been accomplished during the meeting because half of her committee was too busy making eyes at Kol. They gathered in the study, along with Bonnie and Klaus rune books laid out on the table, with notes all around. Caroline took a seat on the small sofa, across from the chaise were Bonnie sat.

She met Klaus's stare, remembering how she had woken up in his bed that morning, wondering again if it had been because he put her there. Had he let himself come into contact with her while she slept?

She kept telling herself that he cared. Over the course of the day, she had begun making a mental list of the reasons why that was true. If he didn't he wouldn't have risked waking a pissed off Kol, or holding a hunter captive in his home. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have saved her last night or yelled at her for trying to protect him.

She really wished that he would say it though. Or at least, not flinch away every time she came near.

"Alright, gang," Kol said clapping his hands together. "Bonnie and I have been having a little less in potions today. Bonnie," he turned his attention to the girl on the chaise. "If you would be so kind as to turn to page 394. Please explain to the class what you have learned today."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but flipped through Shane's book, stopping more than two-thirds of the way through it.

"Potions," she began. "Or elixirs, are different than spells. Spells use energy, from life or from nature. Potions are more like chemistry. They are a mixture of ingredients that can imbue someone with time-limited effects. Basically anyone can make a potion."

"Anyone?" Caroline asked. "So if I got a cauldron and mixed together some toad eyeballs and animal blood and other weird stuff I could make a potion?"

"Well all that would make is a mess," Bonnie laughed. "But yeah, you could make a potion. It's simple chemistry."

"But wait, you said, time-limited. Does that mean this whole human thing can wear off?"

Caroline felt hope soar in her chest and then plummet again as Bonnie sadly shook her head. "No," she replied. "You see, potions are only time sensitive when mixed by humans. Kind of like the effects of doing drugs. You feel the high or low for a while and then it wears off. But potions that are infused with magic by a witch or a warlock, those are permanent."

"Potions can be used to heal, poison, or bewitch a person. And are capable of a variety of effects including healing, amnesia, infatuation, transformation, invisibility, and invulnerability."

Kol smiled down at his student, proud of her recitation.

"This is all very fascinating," Klaus interjected. "But how about you skip the history lesson and get to the relevant part."

Caroline shot Klaus a disapproving look and turned her attention back to Bonnie with an encouraging smile.

Bonnie continued. "The most effective potions are ones that are made specifically for the person intended to consume them. They often include a sample of the drinker's blood or hair, some sort of identifier that is uniquely them."

"So the vampire or invincibility cure or whatever, was meant specifically for Silas?"

Bonnie nodded. "That's what we guessed. And that's why it's mixed with your body in an unusual way. Perhaps the whole humanizing power is a side effect of the cure not being meant for you."

Kol stepped forward. "Potions can also mix with magic that already exists within you, changing the composition."

Caroline looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"You have vampire magic in your blood," Bonnie explained. "Not to mention the time travel spell...there would be residual magic left in the energy surrounding you that could mess with the chemistry of a potion."

Caroline nodded, giving herself a moment to catch up and process all of the new information. "So, in light of all of these new facts," she said. "Do we have a plan?"

"We think maybe a powerful potion could reverse the effects that your touch has on supernaturals," Bonnie told her.

"You would be able to do that?"

"No," she replied. "It would take a potions expert to make something like this. Someone who could foresee the possibilities of mixing a new potion with the old one and all of the magic that you carry on you."

"Do we know anyone who fits that profile?"

"I do," Kol announced, dropping down next to Bonnie and swinging an arm behind her. "A group of witches I know down in New Orleans. Well, not the exact witches I knew. Their descendants. But they would still have learned the knowledge and secrets of their ancestors. These types of spells are related to the Voodoo that is practice further down south."

"How are we going to get a bunch of stranger witches to help us?"

Kol grinned. "Big brother? Have you not told your girl our history in New Orleans?"

Caroline tried not to react to the way Kol said 'your girl' as she looked up at Klaus.

"I was one of the founders of the city," he said, rather flippantly.

Caroline's brows shot up. "You? Founded a whole city?"

"You won't find those stories in history books," Klaus replied. "But my family and I ruled that city for a time. Before we had to escape Mikael. It was our home for over a decade."

"Okay. But why does that mean they'll want to help us?"

"Nik, still has friends there," Kol answered.

"You have friends?" Caroline teased.

"Yes," Klaus replied. "Although, I haven't seen him in centuries. But he'll help us."

Caroline stood up, crossing her arms. "What makes you so sure?"

Klaus shot her a cocky smile, one she hadn't seen in weeks. It made stomach do a little flip. "Sweetheart, I think you've forgotten who you're dealing with. I can be very persuasive."

"Uh-huh," Caroline said rolling her eyes and trying to hide her smile.

The tension that had been building between them was gone for the moment, lightness seeping into their banter. Klaus continued to devour her with his eyes, loving the way her disbelief irritated him and wanting nothing more than to show her how wrong she was. He always loved proving her wrong, when she was so certain that she was right. The way her eyes would narrow, not wanting to admit to anything, and how she would try to ignore his gloating.

"Excuse me," Kol interrupted. "If we can hold the flirting for just a few moments, how about we get to the not great news portion of this briefing." Both Klaus and Caroline seemed to catch themselves, walls flying back up to their protective positions. Caroline resumed her seat on the small couch and Klaus stepped away, across the room.

"There's more bad news?" Caroline asked, looking at Kol.

Klaus was the one to answer, though. "I had a chat with our hunter friend today," he stated. "And more about Silas's threat." Caroline had forgotten about that portion of their predicament. "Silas was awakened and he'll be able to track you, because he consumed your blood. Once he learns that you can still suffice as a cure, he'll need you to complete his plan."

"So?" Caroline asked. "Why don't we let him find me? I can hold his hand while someone kills him. Morbid, but simple."

Klaus shook his head. "It wouldn't work like that."

"Silas will need the lasting effects of the potion," Bonnie interjected. "Not the temporary ones. He'll have to drain your blood to get the full effect of the cure."

"You're right," Caroline said. "That is bad news."

"But, if we can get the witches to make a cure for the cure, then he'll be out of luck," Bonnie said. "We'll dead-end his plan."

"And what if he tries to dead-end us after that?"

"I'll take care of that part," Klaus said, his tone dark.

Caroline didn't know how Klaus thought he would deal with that part, or even if he really could. But she decided to focus on one thing at a time. "Well considering he's on a remote far away island, I'm sure it will take a while for him to figure out how to get here."

Bonnie got up and moved next to Caroline on the sofa, sitting by her and giving her a serious look. "Caroline, I want you to be sure that you want to do this. The witches in New Orleans, if they do help us, might not be able to fix or alter any of this. And, if they do know of a way—it could be a risk. We'll be dealing with powerful magic and it could end up killing you. We aren't even sure if you becoming a vampire again is a possibility" Caroline knew Bonnie wasn't trying to scare her. She was just being honest. Her friend's eyes flicked up to Klaus behind her for a moment, something unreadable in her expression, but it was gone as soon as she looked at Caroline again. "Are you sure you want to take the risk?"

Did Bonnie think she was doing all of this just for Klaus? "Bon, I can't even touch any of my friends without hurting them. I mean think about it. What if I was with Stefan or Elena and happened to come in contact with them as someone hurt them, they could die, because they're human while I'm touching them."

"We don't know that that's the case."

"And I don't want to find out the hard way!" Caroline forced herself not to look behind her for Klaus's reaction as she said her next words. "I want to live as a normal human or as vampire. Not some weird supernatural sucker."

Bonnie sighed. "Okay. If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Caroline smiled. "Besides, a road trip to New Orleans? It could be fun."

* * *

.

Stefan slammed the passenger door to the SUV, walking around to the back. It was pitch black out and they were in the middle of the forest, in the far back of the Lockwood property. Leaves and twigs crunched under his feet with every step across the dirt floor.

"Tell me again why you couldn't do this on your own," Stefan said, as he opened the back door and pulled a spade from the floor of the vehicle. He slung it over his shoulder as Klaus walked around.

"Perhaps I wanted some bonding time with my dear friend," Klaus replied. "I know break ups can be tough and I've experienced some women troubles in the past—"

"Okay stop, stop—" Stefan interrupted. " We are not bonding. Forget I asked." The two men walked a bit further into the trees and stopped when they reached a good spot. It was inconspicuous, and far enough away from the house that no one would find it. They began digging. "Caroline mentioned you and her going to New Orleans."

"That's correct," Klaus said. "Kol and Bonnie as well."

"She told me about the plan. The risks. What are you going to do if it doesn't work?" Klaus shot him a glare. He was tired of the question. Tired of everyone asking him about his motives. "Look, I know Caroline. She'd accept being human. She'd hate it after everything, but she'd accept it. She's the one person I know who actually likes being a vampire—and not for the fucked up reasons the rest of us usually enjoy it." The power, the blood, the god complex it brought with it, Klaus knew all these feelings. "Would you accept her though? If she were human?"

Klaus paused his digging, shoving the spade into the ground and grasping the handle, his knuckles turning white. "It isn't about that," he replied, his voice low. He looked up at the stars and Stefan was reminded of their time in Tennessee, in the woods. Of the only other night Klaus had dared to show any of his legitimate feelings to the ripper.

"I get it," Stefan said after a while. "I watched Elena die. I watched _you_ drain the life out of her. And even though I knew she would be okay, I didn't know. There wasn't a guarantee that the plan to save her would work. And I hated that I couldn't save her. All I could think was that if she was really gone, that I would want to be gone too." Stefan forced his spade into the ground and pulled up more Earth, throwing it into the large pile they had collected. He let out a long breath, shaking his head. "I don't know how you survived for that many centuries."

Stefan continued digging, unaware that Klaus had stopped. He was staring toward the ground, at nothing, memories and old pain playing out in front of him. Stefan almost didn't hear him when he spoke again.

"I didn't want to. There were moments when…" The sentence trailed off. Klaus shook the emotion away, returning to the task at hand.

"Caroline doesn't understand that," Stefan said. "She doesn't know that kind of loss. What it's like to live through it and be terrified of doing of having it happen again."

Klaus heaved out a sigh, looking down at the shallow, rectangular hole they had dug. He looked over at Stefan, who gave him a shrug and the two of them walked back to the SUV. They stashed the spades and pulled out the long, wooden box in the back, dropping it onto the ground.

It was the coffin, which Kol had slept in for many years. He wouldn't be needed it now.

Klaus flipped open the lid and was met by a raging pair of eyes and a mouth, trying to mumble curses at him through duct tape. He crouched down and ripped the tape from Vaughn's mouth.

"I'll come back for you," the hunter spat. "You kill me and you'll be cursed."

Klaus laughed. "Well, I'm not going to kill you. It would be my best guess that lack of oxygen will take care of your death for me." The hunter struggled against the ties at his hands and feet. "Perhaps your ghost can relay this tale to future generations of hunters. Tell them, what happens when a hunter dares to harm the woman I love."

He slapped the tape back onto the hunter's mouth and ignored his wails as he shut the lid of the coffin. Each man took a side and carried it to the grave they had dug, dropping it in without ceremony.

* * *

**.**

**So what'd you think?**

**500 points to whoever spots my Harry Potter reference. Totally cheesy, but I could resist ;)**

**I created the potion head canon based on a little bit of research and combined it with some stuff from Minecraft. **

**I'm still trying to drive home the point that Bonnie is a magic novice and doesn't know much about the power she holds. It's one of the things that has always bothered me about the show. Grams-her one magical mentor-died before she really got to teach Bonnie much more than the basics, yet in canon she can do all these spells just off the bat. I much more enjoyed magic in stories when the user has to learn and hone their skills. Since Kol has some experience in the magical area, he'll be helping guide her a little bit. ;)**

**Hope the lack of Klaroline interaction was made up by subtext and all the fun plot-y information. Not to mention that Klaus just said he loved her up there...without her being around to hear it of course. Thoughts?**

**Let me know!**

**Thanks to klausykins for the beta magic**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	10. Chapter 10

**This is a longer chapter, hope that's okay! Just a lot to cover in this bit. I'll not ramble at the beginning and just let you enjoy it :)**

**As always, be aware of canon changes.**

* * *

.

Caroline dropped Bonnie off at her house and went home to pack for New Orleans. Her mind started forming the to-do list of things she would need to accomplish before they set out. She would need to check the weather, to know what kind of clothes to pack, not to mention she had no idea what they might be doing while they were there. What did one pack on an expedition to convince a coven of witches to turn one into a vampire again? Would it be a formal type of affair or business casual?

In the morning she would have to send out messages to her prom committee, and remind herself to keep tabs on them while she was away. She vowed that no matter what happened in New Orleans, she would be back in time for prom. Bonnie suggested that maybe Caroline give up the reigns to prom, to which Caroline replied, "over my dead body."

The plan was to leave the following morning at dawn. The drive would take about 13 hours, putting them in New Orleans sometime in the evening. The idea of being cooped up in a car for half a day with Kol, Bonnie, and Klaus wasn't at all appealing, especially with the tension currently running between herself and Klaus.

She pulled into her driveway and saw her mother's cruiser parked on the street.

Coming up with an argument to convince her mother to let her go had completely slipped her mind. She knew her mother's patience with her constant comings and goings was starting to wear thin. Liz may have accepted the supernatural turn of her life, but that didn't mean that she always let her run off on life risking adventures without dispute.

Caroline went inside and found her mom sitting on the couch, enjoying some late night bad TV. It was one of those reality investigation shows, where men and women are murdered out of nowhere by their wives or husbands and the family recounts how they should have seen it coming.

Liz smiled at her as she walked in, glancing at her watch, a subtle hint that Caroline was out too late. It must have been a long day, Caroline thought. Liz had removed her shoes and gun belt, but still wore the rest of her uniform.

"It's a school night, young lady."

"Sorry," she offered. "Supernatural business."

Caroline missed Liz's frown as she dropped down on the couch next to her.

"Anything I should know about?"

"Well," Caroline began, there was no point in stalling. "I'm going on another trip. A short one. To New Orleans."

Liz gave her a skeptical look. "And when is this trip happening?"

"Tomorrow." Caroline ventured, the word going up at the end, like a question.

"For how long?"

"I don't know," she replied. "A few days."

Liz leaned forward and grabbed the remote control, flicking off the television set and turning her full motherly attention to her daughter. Caroline gulped. She knew whatever her mother was about to say wasn't going to be good.

"You've already missed over a week of school," Liz said. "And I ignored it yesterday when I got a call that you had skipped before the day even began. Caroline, I don't mean to be insensitive, but you aren't a vampire anymore sweetie. You're mortal, which means you've got to get used to living life like the rest of us again."

"But that's just it Mom. I'm going to New Orleans to find out if I can become a vampire again." She left out the part where it might not even be possible, or that she could die in the process.

Liz shook her head. "I don't know about this. Every time you kids dig into more supernatural stuff, you just seem to make a bigger hole for yourselves."

"We've realized that. Now we're trying to fix it."

Caroline watched Liz stand. She paced a short circle around their living room, her hands going to her hips. She wanted to say something that Caroline knew wouldn't be easy to hear. Liz had always spoken her mind to her daughter, but in the past year their relationship had gotten better. She was always worried about saying the wrong thing and messing it up again.

"Haven't you already been fixed?" She said at last. "You're human again."

"But I didn't want to be human again!" Caroline jumped up from the couch. "And I'm not just human! Now I'm a freak who turns everyone I touch into a human too. I could be putting them all in danger. Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Klaus—"

"Is this about him?" Liz cut her off. "Is he pressuring you to do this?"

"No! God! Why does everyone think I'm doing this for Klaus?" Caroline turned away for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then faced her mother again. "Look, a year ago, yes I could totally see how you would think that Caroline Forbes would let her life be ruled by a guy, but I'm different now. I know you don't understand why I love being a vampire so much—but I do. Okay? I can't explain it just feels…I don't know."

"Infinite?"

"Yeah," Caroline said.

Her mom gave her a knowing smile. "That's not being a vampire, sweetie. That's being a teenager. You feel like you have forever, that you're invincible, and that nothing will ever change. But you grow up and you realize that they do."

"I don't want them to," Caroline murmured, looking down at the carpet.

Liz walked forward, stopping in front of Caroline and holding her face in her hands. She looked down at her young daughter. "I know," she said. "But there isn't a magic spell to stop change. Whether you live to be eighty or eight hundred."

Caroline's mouth twisted. "Well, regardless. I have a two thousand year old, angry warlock after me who wants to suck my blood so he can die and join his long, lost love in the afterlife."

"What!" Liz exclaimed dropping her hands from Caroline's face.

Caroline laughed and Liz gave her a wry look. "It's a long story."

Liz let out a heavy sigh. "I guess normality is a fond memory."

"Don't I know it."

The two Forbes women shared a smile, one that reflected their surprise and relief at the things they had each survived over the past year. A smile that said that through everything they were still grateful to have each other. Liz gave her cheek an affectionate pat and announced that she was going to get ready for bed. As she stepped out of the living room, she turned back. "You know, change isn't all bad, even when it seems like it might be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it wasn't the end of the world when your father and I divorced, nor when you became a vampire," Liz smiled. "You adapt and you overcome."

"Thanks, Mom," Caroline said. Liz nodded and wished her good night.

Caroline looked over at the pictures of her family, staring at the ones when she was very little and her parents were still together, her eyes sliding along the timeline of photos. She remembered when her mother and father told her they were getting a divorce. She remembered the day her father moved out and how empty the house felt without him. She remembered watching the _Parent Trap_ over a dozen times with Bonnie and trying to enlist her and Elena in helping get her parents back together. She remembered when her father finally caught on and had tried to explain to her that he was in love with someone else. A man. A man named Stephen.

She remembered wanting to hate Stephen the first time she met him, but couldn't for some reason. He'd had an infectious laugh and knew all her favorite Disney princess movies. He showed her how to braid her hair and didn't tell her dad about the time she broke Grandma Forbes' old heirloom vase.

Her mother was right. Change didn't have to be terrible. It could lead to some good things. Better things.

Adapt and overcome.

Caroline wondered if perhaps her positive outlook had been inherited from her mother after all.

After shutting off the lamps in the living room, she went to her room to start getting things together. She pulled out one of her smaller duffle bags, perfect for weekend trips, that she had acquired during her world tour with Klaus. Her bathroom was still stocked with tiny toiletries and travel sized shampoos from some of the best hotels from around the world. Her mind was free to wander as she packed, realizing that she had become such a travel pro, she didn't really need to think about what to bring.

Instead she tried to make a pro and con list in her head. What were some of the good things about being human? Not drinking blood? Well she had gotten used to that. Not having murderous thoughts 24/7? Okay, yes, those she could do without. Not having eternity with the people she loved? Not being powerful enough to do anything she wanted? Not having the freedom to go wherever she pleased?

It was difficult to see the positive result of being human again.

Caroline opened her nightstand drawer, looking for her spare cell charger, and saw her favorite picture. It was of her and Klaus. Somehow she had managed to stretch her arm out in front of them just right, so that it captured both of them. Klaus's chin was resting just above her temple and she was leaning back against his chest, sunset colors swirling behind them.

She had taken it with a disposable camera when they had been in London together. Klaus didn't relish posing for photographs, or taking as many as she did. She remembered teasing him, saying that he just didn't want any hard evidence in existence that he ever smiled. But in that photo they both looked happy.

She took a break from packing, laying back in her bed, and looking at the picture, tracing the lines of their frozen smiles with her finger.

Changes.

Life had done a complete one eighty since that photograph had been taken. It seemed her life was nothing but changes. A constant circle of adapting and overcoming. When would it all end, she wondered.

Was it really just over a year ago that she had been laying in her bed, drunk, asking Matt if he ever wished life was different?

"Be careful what you wish for," she said out loud, with a dry laugh.

She set the photograph back on the nightstand, and glanced over at her window. Caroline jumped, nearly falling out of bed, when she saw someone through the open curtains standing outside, staring in at her. A second later she realized it was only Klaus.

"Oh my god," she said, her heart still beating rapidly in her chest.

Cursing him under her breath, she got up and unlatched the window, opening it to him. He was chuckling under his breath. "Didn't mean to frighten you, love."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "How long have you been creeping outside?"

"Not that long," he said. Caroline stood there, silently looking at him, wondering if he planned on staying or not. "Take a walk with me?"

An odd request, but Caroline shrugged, accepting his request. She threw one leg and then the other over her windowsill and climbed out to join Klaus.

They walked toward the wooded area at the end of her street, where the suburban houses tapered off. There, they had some privacy from prying eyes. Not that anyone would be out and about that late at night. Not all of Mystic Falls' citizens were aware of the things that went bump in the night, but most of them unconsciously knew when to remain indoors.

"Why did you come here?" Caroline asked, after they had been strolling along in silence for a few minutes.

"I wanted to see you," he answered. "We haven't gotten much time over the past couple of weeks."

"Well, that could have something to do with you avoiding me," Caroline retorted.

"Yes," Klaus replied. "I suppose it is my fault." Caroline stopped at the edge of the trees, watching Klaus walk into the woods. He turned, realizing that she was no longer beside him and faced her. "What's wrong?"

She decided to lay it all out on the table. "Why _have_ you been avoiding me? Are you still angry about the trip to Nova Scotia?"

"No," Klaus replied, his jaw ticking.

"Is it because I'm human?" His gaze met hers and Caroline knew that she hit the center of their issues. Her chest clenched in pain, and she tried not to let the rejection show on her face. "You know this might not be fixable. I might be like this forever."

"Don't say that," Klaus growled.

"But it's true," she insisted. "Are you really that repulsed by the idea of me as a human? Do you really hate humanity so much?"

"No." Klaus's eyes broke away from her. He stared off into the depths of the trees. "The truth is…" he trailed off.

"The truth is?" Caroline pressed.

Klaus looked at her again, his eyes wide and round with a million terrifying emotions playing through them. His tongue darted out, wetting his lips. Caroline opened her mouth to press him for a real answer but was silenced as he swallowed her words in a desperate kiss. She wanted to push him away, to insist that they talk for once in their lives, instead of covering their fears and emotions with passion and sex. But it had been too long since she had felt any sort of affection from him. She felt his desperation keenly. Caroline grasped his shoulders and pulled him as close as she could, letting his kiss consume her.

His mouth broke away and he trailed rough kisses over her cheek and neck, grazing his teeth across her ear.

"Caroline," he whispered, his voice husky with need, sending a shiver across her skin.

Her fingers fisted in his shirt and she realized that at some point he had backed her against one of the trees, her t-shirt riding up and skin scraping against the rough bark. One of her legs lifted and hitched around his hip as his lips blazed down the column of her throat.

A broken moan slipped from her mouth as he bucked his hips into her and sucked at her skin.

"Klaus," she pleaded, wanting more of him.

She heard a rumble in his chest and then pain flared at her neck as he sank his fangs deep into her flesh. Her body jerked against his in protest, but he only held her tighter.

"Klaus," she said, a plea of another kind coming out this time.

He pulled her blood into his mouth faster and faster and she pressed her hands against his chest, trying to push him away.

"Klaus!"

He was draining her. Killing her. Caroline pressed her nails into his arms, drawing blood, trying anything to attract his attention away from feeding on her. Tears sprang to her eyes as her blood emptied into his throat and her strength waned.

"Klaus!" She screamed.

Caroline shot up in bed. Her chest heaved rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. Morning light broke through her windows. It was a dream, just a dream. Her hand went to her neck, where dream-Klaus had bitten her, just to reassure herself that it hadn't been real. Her heart rate began to slow to a normal speed as the safety and reality of her room and bed comforted her. She pulled her fingers away and looked down at them, seeing crimson smeared on her hand.

Caroline gasped. She reached for her neck again, feeling more warm liquid and two puncture wounds at her throat. In a panic, she rolled from her bed, stumbling to her bedroom door and throwing it open, her bare feet sleeping on something just outside her room. A pool of blood trailed down the hall, like someone had been gutted and dragged.

"Mom?" She yelled, rushing toward the living room, her hand at her neck to staunch her own wound. What had happened? How had they been attacked and she hadn't woken up. She dug her nails into her arm, flinching at the pain. A fresh wave of fear crashing over her as she realized she was without a doubt not dreaming this time.

She reached her living room and saw Liz lying on the floor, a gaping wound in her stomach, her arms flopped down, palms-up at her sides. Caroline cried out, dropping down next to her mother.

"Mom!" She shook her body, her fingers flying to her pulse points, trying to find life. "No, no, no, no, no! Mommy!"

Panicked sobs wracked her body and her hands fluttered over her mother's wounded form, trying to think of something to do.

"Caroline."

Her head snapped toward the voice and she saw Klaus standing in the doorway, a confused look on his face.

"Klaus," she sobbed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to look for you," he answered. "You were supposed to meet us at dawn."

Caroline wasn't listening. She rushed to the door, throwing open the screen and dragging Klaus inside. "Help her!" She ordered.

She no longer had vampire blood in her system, strong enough to heal her mother, but Klaus did. He would save her mother. He had to.

"What?"

Caroline grabbed his arm, pushing back his sleeve. "You have to save her," she sniffed. "You have to give her your blood."

She slid her hands under her mother's head to cradle her so that she could drink. "Caroline—"

"Please!" She cried out. "Even if you don't love me anymore, you have to, please don't let my mom die."

Her face was turning red and purple, her head shaking back and forth in a panicked frenzy. She didn't want Klaus to tell her that there wasn't a chance. She didn't want to hear that her mother was already dead and that she was too late. It couldn't be true. Another sob ripped from her throat.

Klaus's eyes widened as he realized what she meant.

"Caroline, your mother isn't here." She looked at him, her face crumbling in confusion. Klaus moved toward her, taking her face in his hands and focusing her attention on him. "Listen to me. She's not here."

She tried to pull away from Klaus wouldn't let go. "Stop it!" She yelled, slamming her fists against his chest. "Just help her! Please!"

Klaus moved quickly. He slid his hands up behind her head and crushed his lips against hers. Caroline let out a muffled cry of anger, and he felt her push against him. He slipped his tongue between her lips, and she let go in his arms, the salt from her tears mixing with the kiss.

It wasn't like the dream and Caroline couldn't fathom how she mistook the nightmare for reality. There was desperation in the movements of his lips, just like his nightmare self, but there was also passion, and love. She could taste that too. For the first time she felt that Klaus still loved her. That there was still a chance that he would get over whatever prejudices or fears he had and love her again. As his mouth moved against hers a few more tears slipped out from under her closed lashes. Little drops of relief coursing down her cheek that his love had not completely disappeared.

Caroline pulled away with a gasp, recalling her forgotten grief from just moments ago, and looked back to where her mother laying beneath them. But Liz was gone. The blood was gone, from both the floor and her hands. Even the wound at her neck had disappeared. She sat back on her heels, dazed, toppling over onto the floor. Her mouth hung open and her eyes lifted to see Klaus, watching her with concern written all over his features.

"What happened?"

* * *

.

"You think it was Silas?" Klaus asked Bonnie. He saw the witch nod from the rearview mirror and glance in his brother's direction for back up. Kol couldn't see her, but he picked up the theory, adding to it.

"It's an old trick," Kol said. "If you have someone's blood in your system, you can get inside their heads. Remember Sage?"

Klaus nodded, thinking back to his eldest brother Finn's old lover. The woman had been with them long ago, when they had first become vampires. After his brother had turned her, they soon discovered that some vampires had talents that surpassed others. She could manipulate the dreams of her victims, once she had opened their veins.

Once they had gotten on the road, Caroline had filled the group in on the events of the morning and seeing the vision of her mother brutally murdered on her living room floor. It pained Klaus to watch her recount the details she had thought were real. She explained the realness of the blood, and how she could actually touch and hold her mother's non-existent body. Klaus affirmed that he hadn't seen any of it, not even a single drop of blood. His eyes flicked up again, watching Caroline's expression in the mirror, searching for any hints of a residual breakdown.

After she had pulled herself back together, and realized her mother wasn't in mortal danger, she had quickly changed and retrieved her things for their trip to New Orleans. Klaus had waited for her, but they hadn't spoken to each other much. He had attempted to remain focused and give her space to overcome her scare—she kept checking the spot on the living room floor—but he couldn't get the feel of her lips out of his senses. It had been the first time he had touched her since she had returned from the island. It wasn't just the feel of her lips, it was the warmth of her skin under his hands, the silky feel of her curls between his fingers. Even through her fighting and sobs, kissing her had been like coming up for air.

As much as he still desired her, he couldn't reconcile the fact that any time he touched her, would mean he would become human. Weak. Vulnerable. But at that crucial moment there had been nothing else in his mind except dread for her, as he watched her cry over something that he couldn't see. His mind had not even conjured up ideas of Silas or mind spells; he only knew he had to distract her or comfort her or shake her back to herself.

Her eyes snapped up, as if she sensed his thoughts on her. They locked for a moment, before Klaus looked away, focusing on the road again. He cursed himself as he looked again and saw Stefan nudge her from his middle seat between the two girls.

"You okay?" The vampire murmured to her. Caroline passed him a smile and nodded.

Stefan had decided to join them on the trip, showing up at the mansion and mentioning something about a promise he made to her long ago that he would never let anything happen to her.

Caroline reached over and gave Stefan's knee an affectionate squeeze, causing shades of emerald to tint his vision. Klaus gripped the steering wheel and focused on the highway, wondering if something wasn't developing between the two of them. The former ripper and Caroline had been rather close lately. And Klaus had discovered them together in Shane's office that day. Perhaps Stefan was finally getting over the doppelganger…

"That must have been what Vaughn meant when he said Silas was tracking me," Caroline interjected, leaning forward. "My blood is how he found me in Mystic Falls. Which means…he could follow us to New Orleans."

"Well the illusions he pulled on you will have cost him a lot of energy," Bonnie said. "Mind manipulation takes a lot of work. I've tried variations on it. But nothing so powerful that it requires a blood connection."

"You tried mind control?" Caroline gaped. "On who?"

"Bonnie Bennett! What a scandal!" Kol teased from the front seat.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Anyways," she deflected. "Silas more than likely isn't at full power yet, assuming that he's the one stealing the blood from the hospital. The tricks he pulled last night will probably cost him some time."

"And buy us some," Stefan said.

"Well, let's not waste it," Klaus said, pressing his foot down on the gas.

* * *

.

They had planned to make it to New Orleans in one day, but the late start had put them behind schedule. Klaus had no intention of walking into town in the middle of the night, so the foursome decided to stop along the Alabama-Georgia state line.

They ended up in a cheap motel just off the freeway that looked as good as anything else, hoping to keep a low profile in case Silas was on their trail. Caroline suggested the likeliness of unwanted casualties decreased if they distanced themselves from the busier lodging choices. Not that Klaus gave half a damn, but he wasn't inclined to argue.

While Stefan took care of compelling the management and procuring them a few rooms, Klaus pulled the SUV around to the back parking lot.

Kol jumped out of the front seat, stretching out his limbs with a loud satisfied groan.

"Well, Bonnie," Kol said. "I hope that you can keep your hands to yourself tonight. I know that closed quarters can cause hormones to run high."

"Don't hold your breath," Bonnie muttered as she slid out of the car behind Caroline. "Besides, Stefan is getting two rooms." Bonnie linked her arm through Caroline's.

"I was under the impression that my dear brother would be bunking with Caroline," Kol said, just in time for Klaus to appear from the driver's side. Caroline tried not to feel the awkwardness that descended upon them all.

"No way," Bonnie said, covering quickly. "I call dibs. It's girl time tonight."

Kol made a lurid comment about what "girl time" could possibly mean, and Stefan appeared with the keys to their rooms. Caroline met Bonnie's gaze as the boys headed off, mouthing a quick "thank you" to her friend.

The group walked up the concrete stairs to the second floor and split off, Caroline and Bonnie in one room and the guys in the other.

The rooms were small, with two full sized beds, covered in tacky bedding. There was a small tube TV in the front of the room, sitting on top of a set of dresser drawers. Next to the window was a loud air conditioning unit and a wooden table with two chairs. Toward the back was the door to a small bathroom.

Bonnie looked at Caroline and shrugged. "At least it's only for tonight."

Caroline pulled the comforter off of the bed. She remembered once reading somewhere that when staying in cheap motels, it was wise to remove any comforters or blankets from the bed, since they received the least amount of cleaning. The sheets were usually safe. Caroline looked down at them, trying to decide if they were as white as they seemed to be.

"So who do you think will share?" Bonnie joked, as she gathered her toiletries together.

Caroline snorted. "Well, I doubt Kol will sleep. Usually the only time he shuts his eyes is when his can no longer physically keep them open," she shook out the pillows, fluffing them up a bit. "He doesn't like to miss out on a single waking moment."

"I guess sleeping for a hundred years will do that," Bonnie replied.

"Thanks for calling girls night though," Caroline said again. "Kol tends not to think before he speaks."

Bonnie snorted. "You're telling me."

As Bonnie was pulling out a pair of PJs from her backpack, Caroline's eyes went to the yellow wall that stood between the two rooms. Her teeth passed over her lip in thought.

"Do you have any of that stuff that like makes it so people can't hear your conversations?"

Bonnie looked up at her, a question in her bronze eyes. "Sage? No. Why do you ask?"

Caroline's eyes flicked to the wall again. "How thin do you think these walls are?"

Bonnie's eyes looked at the wall and then back at her friend. She moved around, closer to Caroline, and sat down on the bed, folding one leg underneath her. "Okay. Spill."

Caroline considered for about two seconds before letting out a huff sort of groan. "It's been forever," Caroline stomped her foot. Bonnie looked up at her, shaking her head a bit, not following Caroline's train of thought. "Sex! Bonnie, I'm talking about sex."

"Whoa! Okay, gross!" Bonnie threw her hands up to shield herself from Caroline's words.

"Bonnie!"

"I'm sorry! It's just kind of weird to hear about the sex life of someone you kind of hate."

"Well you don't hate me," Caroline said.

Bonnie took a deep, cleansing breath and let it out. "You're right. I don't. Okay, go. It's been forever since you and Klaus have had sex."

Caroline gathered her thoughts and began again. She and Bonnie and Elena had often talked boys over their high school years, but Caroline had started to keep more of her relationship issues to herself, since she had been with Klaus. It was a little weird to discuss things with her two friends who more or less hated him.

"It's just, he kissed me this morning to distract me from the Silas induced visions and I am just dying over here," Caroline said. "When I was a vampire, I was horny like, all the time. It comes with the territory." Caroline recalled having a similar awkward conversation with Tyler after he became a werewolf. "But it hasn't seemed to lessen any now that I'm human."

"Well," Bonnie replied. "Maybe the heightened emotions haven't gone away either. You still have the extra strength and speed. Maybe the sex drive stayed too."

Caroline crossed her arms. "Yeah, well it'd be a lot more fun if your boyfriend would freakin' touch you. I mean after that dream and that kiss, it's all I can think about."

"What dream?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline hadn't told any of them about the dream. Not even Klaus. She had left that part out. But she quickly related to Bonnie what had happened in the dream, trying to be as brief and PG rated as she could.

"This is big," Bonnie said, getting up and going for her bag. She pulled out the journal that she and Kol had been translating. "There is some words in here about dream walking. Again, it takes a lot of power. But dream walkers can manipulate your dreams so well that you think whatever happened in the dream, happened in real life."

"You think Silas was walking through my dream?"

"I think so," Bonnie nodded. "And he built on the terror for your dream and used that to create the illusion of your mom being dead." Caroline shivered, not liking the idea of someone as messed up as Silas being able to completely manipulate her mind, whether she was awake or asleep. "The scary thing is he can do it to any of us. Whether he's had our blood or not." Bonnie paused for a long moment, her fingers toying with the frayed edges of the book. "I know there are talismans that I can make, to block him or anyone else out while we're sleeping. But it might take me a day or two."

After their conversation, neither girl was anxious to fall asleep. Instead, they spent some time in front of the television, watching whatever channel they could get reception. Bonnie had made a trip to the vending machine and they snacked on chips, soda, and ho-hos. Bonnie eventually passed out in her bed, snoring softly as the light of the TV flickered over her brown skin.

Caroline shut off the TV and attempted to lay back in bed. She tossed and turned, but couldn't get comfortable. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the same things; or rather different versions of the same things.

The room became suffocating, remnants of cigarette smoke and the old, moldy smell of the carpet stifling her sentences. Trading her pajama tank top for a t-shirt, she pulled the material over her head, and slipped on a pair of shoes, creeping out of the room as quietly as she could so she wouldn't wake Bonnie.

Outside the air was hot and humid, but it made her feel just a little better. It was much more humid than Virginia. Cicadas hummed in the night, singing against the sounds of highway traffic in the distance.

Klaus was there, leaning against the balcony rail overlooking the parking lot. Caroline stopped short seeing him thinking that maybe it was too crowded outside after all, but decided to join him, her shoes scraping softly against the concrete as she walked toward him.

"Not much of a view, huh?"

A microscopic grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "It's no Champs Elysees," he replied. "You shouldn't be out alone."

"I'm not alone, you're here," she replied, earning a wry look. "I needed some air. I couldn't sleep." Caroline looked over her shoulder, back to the room where the guys were sleeping. It was empty. "Where are Stefan and Kol?"

"Kol is out hunting," Klaus told her. "He said he spotted a quaint watering hole when we exited the highway and couldn't resist. Stefan went to talk to Damon about Silas, possibly to find out if he's still in Mystic Falls replenishing his strength."

"And?"

Klaus shrugged. "I won't know until he returns."

Caroline nodded, and looked out across the parking lot. There were only two other cars around aside from Klaus's black SUV. One she assumed was the night manager's, which meant there was only one other guest in the hotel besides them.

"Thanks," she said breaking their silence. "For this morning. For being there for me." Klaus looked over at her them, his eyes piercing her. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there."

"Of course," he replied.

Her mind went back to the moment. The horrible moments she thought her mother had been taken from her forever. Tears still threatened to spill and she had called Liz at least a dozen times that day just to reassure herself that she was alright. Bonnie was right about Silas being able to create manipulations so throughly that it was easy to confuse them with real life.

But then her thoughts turned to the kiss. The kiss that brought her back. Klaus's kiss. In the dream she'd had, she remembered craving it, like it was water. But in reality it had been so much more powerful. The kiss had felt like life itself, flowing into her and pulling her back from hell.

"I have something for you," Klaus announced, breaking into her thoughts. He gestured for her to follow him and she walked into the room. Klaus reached into his bag and pulled out an elegant, flat box, handing it to her.

Her brows furrowed. She wasn't expecting a gift. "What is it?"

"Open it," he smiled.

She did, wondering when he had time to get something for her. Klaus seemed to have a super power that enabled him to surprise her at a moment's notice. Even when they spent every waking moment together, he still managed to slip things in without her knowing.

Inside the box was a pair of elegant lace gloves, an ageless ecru color, long enough to reach just past her wrists. Caroline looked up at Klaus, a question mark written over her face.

"They are a hand-me-down I must admit," he said. "They belonged to Rebekah. One of her favorite pairs."

"I don't understand," Caroline replied. "I mean don't get me wrong, they're beautiful. But not exactly on Vogue's list of spring trends."

Klaus chuckled. "You'll need them in New Orleans," he explained. "It's best if the vampires, witches, and any other supernaturals we encounter are unaware of your new talent."

Caroline nodded, taking one of the gloves from the box and sliding her fingers into the lace. Rebekah's fingers were slightly longer than hers, so the gloves were just a little too big. The material was thin and soft and the color blended beautifully with her skin. Maybe they wouldn't look so bad with most of her outfits.

She held her hand out in front of her, admiring the lacework.

"Well, I guess it can be the start of a whole new trend," she smiled. Rebekah probably had hundreds of pairs of gloves that she had collected in the past, and Klaus had taken the time to select a pair that would be perfect for her.

"You know, sweetheart," Klaus reached forward and took her glove-covered hand between his. He was right. The glove blocked her supernatural sucking power from getting through. "Those walls are thinner than you think."

Caroline's eyes went wide in understanding before she felt him tug her forward, closer to his body. Her eyes remained focused on his chest, but she could feel his stare boring down on her. She dared a peek up at him through her lashes and gasped at the amount of lust and desire that burned blue in his eyes. Evidently, she wasn't the only one feeling…deprived.

He pulled her hand up, so that her palm cupped his face, his hand pressing hers against his cheek. Caroline stared at her own hand, as if it were something else, while his eyes roamed her face. His fingers laced through hers and she sucked in a long breath. It was almost painful, touching him, but not feeling it. It was nothing but a phantom sensation with the material barrier between them. She longed for the real thing.

Caroline stepped forward, closer to him, her chest rising and brushing against his, her gloved hand still holding his face. Her eyes locked with his and she noticed the veins spider webbing out from his eyes and across his cheekbones. Their hunger for each other swept around them, a magnet pulling them closer and closer. Caroline's gaze dropped to his lips and they fell open on command. He had kissed her, earlier, without reservation. He could do it again. Risk those feelings of humanity just to sate the heat that pulsed between them.

Just a tiny brush of skin. Just a single moment that wasn't filled with salt and tears. Just a baby step toward their future together.

His face was so close to hers now, she felt his free hand slip around her waist, her mind screaming yes! Her mouth forming the word, eyes sliding closed; ready to commit it all to memory in case the next opportunity proved to be far away.

Their clothed bodies began to connect, material wrinkling together as the space between them lessened and lessened. She heard him suck in a breath and felt his warm breath ghost across her lips. Just a bit closer…

"I thought it was girls night?" Caroline turned to see Kol leaning against the still open doorway, arms crossed and smug smile stretching from cheek to cheek. Caroline fumed. "Does this mean Bonnie is all by her lonesome in your hotel room? Perhaps I should go keep her company."

Caroline and Klaus broke apart, the moment shattered; yet still pulsing inside her veins. She grabbed the box with her glove and stormed toward the smirking original. "Shut up, Kol." She barked. Kol chuckled after her as she moved down the hall and fumbled with the key to her room. She heard him talking to Klaus as he stepped into their room.

"I swear, Nik, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Why don't—"

Caroline heard Kol cut off by the snap of what sound like his spinal cord, then a loud thud. She couldn't help smirking to herself as she heard the door click shut. That would teach him.

Maybe.

But probably not.

.

* * *

.

**A fake kiss, a real kiss, and an almost kiss. Trying to slip some Klaroline action in there for you guys. They are just as sexually frustrated as you dear readers :)**

**I've been changing the rules on a lot of the Silas stuff and I hope it's making sense and that you guys can understand. I get confused myself sometimes haha**

**Next chapter, they'll be in New Orleans. I'm very excited to write all the NOLA things I have planned. It's gonna get crazy. **

**Thank you to alex (Klarolineepiclove) and Kady (klausykins) for the beta magic!**

**Thank YOU readers for your love and reviews.**

**Follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


	11. Chapter 11

**I had a burst of inspiration with the new episodes of TVD and The Originals, so I ended up writing two chapters of this fic at once! Expect another update soonish, once I polish some things. If you guys wanna chat about the shows, feel free to hit me up on my blog!**

**Beware of canon changes, I've shifted a few facts/character relationships.**

**I've worked in some dialogue/scenes from the show into this, the same way I did with _Timeless_. You guys seemed to enjoy the reworked/repurposed scenes in the last story, so hopefully you will again.**

**Enjoy NOLA! ;)**

* * *

.

"Welcome," a deep voice boomed through the din of the French Quarter, "to the dark side of New Orleans, a supernatural playground, where the living are easily lost, and the dead stick around to play."

Caroline watched a tour guide pass, a crowd of excited tourists following behind him. The morning tourists giggled in excitement and at the mystery and charm evoked by the man's words. His arms swept out, gesturing to the magnificence of the French Quarter; the jewel of New Orleans. As if on cue, the clouds parted, and the blue sky opened above them, allowing the warm afternoon sun to shine down, smells of bourbon, sugar, and spice beckoning them forward.

After their night spent in the cheap motel, Caroline, Klaus, Bonnie, Kol and Stefan continued their journey until they arrived in New Orleans. It was like no place Caroline had ever been…and she had been a lot of places recently.

She tugged at the sleeve of her denim jacket, making sure her wrists were covered. The lace of her gloves matched the lace sundress she was wearing almost perfectly. Her legs were bare, but Caroline figured the odds of something brushing her bare legs were low. She wondered who around them was supernatural and who was human. It was difficult to tell from far away, without being able to discern a pulse.

"Wow," Bonnie gaped beside her, taking in the beauty of the city. Caroline smiled, realizing that this was Bonnie's first trip away from Mystic Falls.

A horse drawn buggy passed in front of them, it's hooves clopping and clacking down the street.

"It is pretty amazing," Caroline said, echoing her admiration.

"It's not just that," Bonnie replied. "There's this energy here. It's like this place was made for supernaturals."

"Well, it was darling," Kol chimed in throwing an arm around Bonnie's shoulders as they continued forward. "At least that was our original intention."

Bonnie passed a cool look from Kol's hand on her shoulder and up to his face. "What do you mean?"

"Nik wanted a city that could belong to us," Kol explained. "A place where vampires could rule and roam free."

Kol nodded to his brother and the girls turned their attention to Klaus, who shrugged.

"I had a vision," he replied flippantly. "Come."

He strutted forward, arms swinging at his sides, boots heavy against the road.

"I remember this place being pretty vampire friendly when I passed through in the 40s," Stefan said

"You were here in the 40s?" Caroline asked.

"Just before I shipped out for the war. I was off to be an army surgeon. Lexi was with me." Stefan smiled wistfully at the mention of his deceased best friend.

Bonnie and Kol fell behind them, Kol telling her about some witch history of New Orleans. Stefan's eyes scanned the crowd, and Caroline noticed a few girls giving him a second glance as he passed, but he seemed oblivious. She turned her gaze on Klaus just ahead of them, as they continued onto the sidewalk.

She could see the way he looked up at the buildings, seeing the people out on the large, wrap around balconies, remembering what it must have been like to watch it all take shape, and perhaps regretting that for whatever reason he was unable to see it through. She quickened her pace a bit so that she fell into step with him.

"So," she ventured, "why didn't you stay here back in the day?"

Klaus squinted in the sunlight. "Plans changed," he told her. "Mikael showed up before we could establish any real power here. Rebekah and I were forced to flee." He looked over at her. "I wanted to make a kingdom. Have an army behind me to defeat Mikael. And I also heard stories about the power of the witches here…"

"What stories?"

Klaus stopped walking and fixed her with a meaningful look. "That they could bring back the dead." Caroline reached out and took his hand, reminding him that she was there and alive. He flinched, but then remembered her gloves, and relaxed into the touch, giving her fingers a sharp squeeze. Before she could think of a response, he dropped her hand and broke away, calling to the rest of the group. "We should split up," he said. "Our witches might not take too kindly to all five of us approaching them at once."

"Excellent point," Kol replied, "I'll take Bonnie and inspect a few of the local pubs."

"I'll go with them," Caroline said, catching Bonnie's reaction.

Klaus nodded and looked over at Stefan, who shrugged. "We'll pay a visit to the Quarter witches."

* * *

.

Klaus threaded his way through the tables and stalls. Colorful, hand painted adverts invited guests to connect with the spirit world, glimpse their futures, and even communicate with the dead. Faux witches sat in elaborate costumes, waving their hands over giant glass balls, burning incense and chanting nothing but gibberish to tourists dumb enough to fork over the cash.

"This seems pointless," Stefan said, flicking a shrunken head hanging from one of the carts as they passed.

"Not completely," Klaus assured him. "True voodoo priestesses and witches stay away from practicing for the crowds, but there are a few who can't resist the chance to turn coin. We'll find her out here among the pretenders."

Klaus rolled his tongue across his teeth, eyes searching until he met a wide brown pair across the way. The woman saw him, and quickly looked down to gather her things and make a hasty exit. Klaus moved forward, pushing through the crowd to get to her, Stefan trailing behind.

"Leaving so soon?" Klaus asked the witch, turning on his ruthless charm. "It's still early." The witch peered up at him and looked back down, continuing to gather her things. Klaus pulled out the chair in front of her small, round clothed table and took a seat. "Certainly you have time for one more?"

"I have nothing to say to you," she snapped, adjusting the purple turban wrapped around her dark, curling braids.

"Oh, now, that's not very amiable, is it?" He passed a look back up to Stefan, who stood beside him. "You don't even know me."

"I know what you are," she said. "Half vampire, half beast. You're the hybrid."

Klaus grinned. "I'm the original hybrid, actually."

"Yeah you can't leave out the _original_ part," Stefan quipped.

"I'm looking for someone," Klaus continued. "The name is Deveraux."

It was the name Kol had given him. The Deveraux witches had ruled the French Quarter since the 18th century, their power legendary on the western half of the globe, second only to the Bennett blood line. Klaus recalled having more than a few run ins with the group when he attempted to take control of the city.

The dark skinned witch in front of him didn't bat an eye. "Sorry, I don't know."

"Well, that's a fib isn't it?" Klaus said leaning forward. "You see the way I hear it is that the Deveraux witches are the most powerful in New Orleans so even if they had in fact, died out, any good little witch would know the name." Klaus reached forward, wrapping his hand around her wrist. "Now I know you're a true witch in this sea of posers. Enough with the fabrications. Tell me what I want to know." Klaus shot her another toothy grin. "I've quite the temper."

"Tell him what he wants to know," Stefan warned behind him. His ally knew his patience for games. Klaus watched the witches eyes flick to the vampire behind him, considering for a moment.

Her gaze narrowed and she snatched her hand away from his grasp.

"Witches don't talk outta school in the Quarter. The vampire won't allow it. Those are the rules. I don't break Marcel's rules."

Klaus's brow furrowed at the name. "Marcel?" he asked. "Where do you suppose I might find Marcel?"

The witch looked between Klaus and Stefan, again weighing her choice. He watched her make her decision, her eyes sliding toward one of the buildings across the street behind them. Klaus turned and followed her gaze.

"Thank you, my dear."

"So, who's Marcel?" Stefan asked once they left the witch and were walking toward the bar.

"A vampire," Klaus answered, the pages of history folding back across his face. "One I knew a long time ago."

They strolled through the swinging doors, assaulted by the loud rock music filling the joint. A few people were scattered between the bar and the tables, the hour still too early for the party crowds to be out in full swing. But none of that seemed to matter to the man at the front of the bar, microphone in hand, singing his heart out on stage.

A small crowd was gathered in front of him, beers in hand, cheering and hollering for him. Klaus paused to watch his show for a moment, observing the confidence and cockiness of the man. He was brown skinned, large framed, and appeared to be young—a man in his prime—but Klaus knew he was much, much older than he appeared.

The crowd seemed to adore their entertainer, drawn in by his contagious charisma as he spun and sang. He ended his song and flashed his audience a winning smile that was half boyish charm and half sex appeal, then hopped down from the stage and headed to the bar.

Klaus strode toward him, watching as he slapped hands with one of his mates sitting on a bar stool and took a drink from the other.

The man's revelry came to a sharp stop as Klaus drew near, his head snapping up and their eyes locking. Klaus held back a smirk, keeping his face hard as stone. The mates at the bar looked over at him and Stefan with caution, sizing them up, trying to deduce the threat they posed.

"Klaus," the entertainer said.

"Marcel."

Marcel turned to face him fully. "Must be a hundred years since that nasty business with your papa."

"Has it been that long?" Klaus replied.

"Way I recall it, he ran you out of town. Left a trail of dead vampires in his wake."

Klaus came to a stop in front of him. He felt Stefan behind him, ready to defend in case of a fight. "And yet how fortunate you managed to survive," he continued. "My father I'm afraid I recently incinerated."

The two at the bar stood, flanking Marcel, and Klaus watched as a dozen more vampires rose from the tables through the room behind them to come to Marcel's defense.

"Well, if I had known you were coming back into town, if I had a heads up—"

"What, Marcel?" Klaus raised his chin, stepping forward and coming inches away from his face. The atmosphere prickled around them and the surrounding vampires braced themselves for attack, the lot emboldened by the fact that it was only himself and Stefan. "What would you have done?"

The look of stone Marcel mirrored back at him slipped like melted honey from his face into that same boyish, sweet smile he had given to the crowd. "I'd have thrown a damn parade." Laughter erupted between the two of them as Marcel embraced him. "Niklaus Mikaelson!" he said, pulling back. "My mentor, my savior, my sire." The vampires dropped back-seeing the threat recede-and went back to their tables. "I don't believe I've met your friend."

Klaus turned to Stefan, who stepped forward, still cautious of the interaction that had just passed. "This is Stefan Salvatore."

"Salvatore," Marcel said. "As in the infamous Ripper of Monterey?"

Stefan ducked his head, the reminder of his past making him uneasy. "That's right," he said taking Marcel's out stretched hand.

Marcel chuckled. "You have made some interesting friends while you've been away," he said. "Come on, let's get you boys a drink."

* * *

.

They had been weaving in and out of bars and shops for an hour. Kol had instructed Bonnie to use her witchy sense to pick up on any streams or fluxes of power. Devereux was the name they were searching for, trying to discover anything they could about the witches or their coven.

"The French Quarter witches are not a lot to be trifled with," Kol warned as they weaved their way through the crowded streets.

She watched as a girl, maybe around her age, sat in front of a witch, asking about her future—if she would find love? Marriage? Happiness?

"You okay?" Bonnie asked giving her a nudge.

Caroline glanced back at the fortune teller's table, watching the woman read the girl's palm.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'd just like a glimpse into my future once."

Bonnie followed her stare. "That? It's totally fake."

"I know but…"

"Knowing the future isn't that fun," Bonnie told her. "It doesn't make things easier, either. It just makes you feel more responsible."

Clouds passed overhead, covering the sunlight, and turning the day grayer. They passed through Bourbon Street, circling around now, knowing that they would probably run into Klaus and Stefan again soon. Caroline hoped that the boys had found more luck than they had.

She was starting to get hungry, when they passed by yet another bar/restaurant. Caroline stopped in front of it and read the menu posted outside, her mouth watering at the sound of fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese, and sweet mashed potatoes with cinnamon.

She stopped, her mouth falling open at one of the menu items. "Oh my gosh," she whispered to herself. Her head turned and she saw Kol and Bonnie had continued walking. She called out to them and they turned, coming back toward her. "Look at this," she said pressing her finger against the menu.

Bonnie stepped forward. "Grandma Devereux's Famous Gumbo," she read.

"Maybe this is them?" Caroline asked, looking from Bonnie to Kol.

"Worth a shot," Bonnie said. "I could use some food anyways."

"Ah, I always forget that you mortals need to eat," Kol said. He grasped the brass handle on the door and held it open for the two girls, letting them walk in.

The place was mostly empty, except for one couple tucked into a booth against the wall. Directly ahead of them was the bar, a blonde woman standing behind it, wiping glasses with a white dishrag. She smiled at them as they entered.

"Sit anywhere you'd like," she called out.

Kol strutted forward, heading directly for the bar. Bonnie and Caroline followed. The girl walked over and handed them a few menus.

Kol immediately set his aside. "I'm not hungry," he said addressing the waitress, "but I will take a bourbon."

He gave her a lazy half smile, letting his hair flop into his face in that way that he thought made him seem adorable to the opposite sex.

"You're in the south," the girl said. "You're gonna have to ask a whole lot nicer than that."

Bonnie and Caroline laughed as they looked at their menus.

Kol chuckled as well. "My apologies, darling," he replied. "May I please have a finger of your finest bourbon whiskey, as well as whatever my female friends desire."

"Coming right up," the girl replied, pulling out a clean glass and opening a bottle of brown liquor.

Bonnie and Caroline both stuck to sweet teas. "The house wine of the south," the girl called it.

"First time in New Orleans?" she asked.

"Yep," Caroline replied, slipping the paper from her straw and plucking it into her glass of tea. "Are you from here?"

"No I moved here a couple years ago," the girl said. "I'm a grad student."

Caroline and Bonnie glanced at one another. She wasn't local, which probably meant she wasn't a Devereux. Caroline tried not to let it deflate her. "What do you study?"

"Psych." She replied. "I'm Cami by the way. Well, Camille, but I like Cami. It's makes me sound like less of a grandma."

"I'm Caroline, this is Bonnie," Bonnie grinned as Caroline introduced the both of them.

"What about you guys? Where do you go to school?"

"We're not in college yet," Bonnie answered. "We're seniors this year. Still in high school."

"High school?" Camille said, leaning back against the bar and folding her arms across her apron. "Are you guys ditching?"

"What can I say," Kol chimed in, wagging his brows. "I'm a terrible influence."

Cami rolled her eyes at Kol's thick charm. Caroline liked her already. "Where'd you find this guy?"

Caroline grinned. "It's a long story."

"Kol Mikaelson," he said, raising his glass to Cami with a wink. He always introduced himself with his full name.

"Mikaelson, huh?" Cami looked intrigued. "As in the _original_ Mikaelsons?"

* * *

.

"It's good to see you," Marcel said, pouring whiskey into three low glasses.

Marcel had led them into a back room of the bar. The floorboards creaked in protest as they stepped through and each took a chair in front of a table that looked like it had been around as long as Marcel had. They sat at a round table, Klaus and Stefan across from Marcel.

"It's good to be home," Klaus returned, accepting the drink. "Although I hope the current state of Bourbon Street wasn't your doing."

Marcel laughed. "Something gotta draw in the outta towners. Otherwise, we'd all go hungry."

Klaus took a sip of his drink, his eyes running over the hands of the other vampires that had followed them into the room. He noticed that despite their amiable acquaintance, the vampires still held vigilance over him and Stefan.

"I see that your friends are daywalkers," Klaus said, referring to the Lapiz Lazul rings that appeared on the hand of each of them.

"Yeah," Marcel admitted, a guilty edge to his voice. "I shared the secrets of the daylight ring with a few buddies. Just the inner circle though," he assured him. "So, what brings you back to my humble city?"

Marcel's ownership of the city didn't escape Klaus's notice. But he wasn't there to stage a takeover. Not yet, at least. The hybrid took another sip of the bourbon and set the glass down. "I'm looking for a group of witches, called Devereux."

Marcel nodded. "I know them. Why are you interested?"

"Are they friends of yours?"

Marcel laughed out loud, the other vampires in the room chuckled around them. Klaus looked over at Stefan, both of them missing the joke.

"Not exactly," Marcel said. "A lot has changed in this city since you were last here." He grabbed his drink and tossed it back. "Tell you what, where are you staying?"

"We've only just arrived."

"Excellent," Marcel said slapping the table. "You'll stay with me at my townhouse. And tonight, you'll come out with me and my boys, and we will celebrate your return in the way it should be celebrated."

Marcel grabbed the bottle again and refilled their drinks.

"There are three more in my party," Klaus replied.

"The more the merrier," Marcel said, then stopped himself. "I have to ask…"

Klaus smirked. "No, Rebekah did not join me. We've had a bit of a falling out."

"You two always did fight like cats and dogs," Marcel grinned. "Well, you always told me that when family disappoints you, you make your own." He raised his glass to toast. "Here's to you. My family. A century is much too long."

Klaus raised his glass, meeting Marcel's sparkling eyes. The glass clinked together and Marcel threw back the liquid in one smooth motion. "To family."

* * *

.

Caroline and Bonnie shared an uncomfortable look. Humans knowing about vampires was never a good sign. But a human that knew about original vampires…

"Part of the original settlers in New Orleans?" Cami ventured.

"You know your town history." Kol stated.

"I can't afford cable, so I read a lot. History and non-fiction mostly. I brushed up when I moved here."

Caroline let out a relieved breath. Things really didn't need to be any more complicated that they already were.

"I believe my ancestors did have a hand in raising this city to glory," Kol said, smirking over his glass.

"Well," Cami said, continuing to dodge Kol's attempts to flirt. "Are you ladies hungry? We've got the best gumbo in Louisiana."

Caroline saw her window and took it. "Yeah," Caroline said. "Is it really a family recipe or is it just something the owners call it to make it sound better than it actually is?"

"No, it's really _that_ good," Cami replied. "And it's really a family recipe. The Devereux family started this place decades ago and they still own it. Everything here is secret recipe. I swear they must be using magic in some of their cooking."

Cami promised to bring back bowls of gumbo for both Caroline and Bonnie. Once she was gone, Caroline leaned in and whispered to Bonnie. "Do you think that means the Devereux's are here?"

Bonnie shrugged. "I don't feel any magical signatures, but that might just mean they aren't in the restaurant."

Cami brought back two large bowls of gumbo and placed them in front of the girls, topping off Kol's drink before she checked on the couple in the booth. The salty, spicy smell wafted up into Caroline's nose, her stomach rolling eagerly.

They ate and Kol continued to go back and forth with Cami, tricking her into showing him how the jukebox worked. A few more patrons walked in and diverted her attention, so Kol joined the girls again as they finished their food.

"Don't you ever turn it off?" Bonnie asked as he slid back into the stool next to her.

"Turn what off?"

"The flirting."

Kol grinned. "Jealous of the bar maid, darling?" Bonnie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Is that what you like? More serious blokes?"

"I'm not going to even dignify that with an answer."

"I can be more serious if you'd like," Kol insisted playfully.

"I seriously doubt that," Bonnie replied, rolling her eyes as Kol attempted to make "serious" faces to win her over.

Caroline's laughter at the two of them came to a halt as she Bonnie's brown eyes widen in shock, her shoulders tensing.

"Kol Mikealson."

A female voice behind them called their attention. All mirth from Kol's face disappeared and he stood up from his bar stool as they turned to face the woman calling to him.

It was not just one, but two women hovering near the doorway. They looked alike-same dark curly hair, same midnight eyes, and same smooth, porcelain skin. The first woman, the one who had spoken, gave Kol a hard look. The other stood behind her, eyes filled with more trepidation than the older girl.

Kol stepped up, placing himself between them and the women. Caroline looked over at Bonnie, a silent conversation passing between them. They were witches.

"I don't believe we've met," Kol said to the woman. "I would never forget such a lovely face."

All flirtatious pretense was gone from his voice now. Being recognized had rattled his cage.

"We haven't," she replied. "I recognize you from an old photograph that belonged to my great-great grandmother. She always told me to beware, should a Mikaelson man ever darken my doorstep."

His lip curled up. "And who might your grandmother have been, to offer you such sagely and might I say, apt, advice?"

The women arched a brow. "Roslyn Devereux."

"Oh, Ros," Kol said. "Who could ever forget her?"

The older, angrier girl stomped toward him. She was much shorter than Kol, but it didn't stop her from trying to intimidate him with her proximity.

"Get out of my bar," she snapped.

"Testy little witch," Kol goaded. "My friends and I are just enjoying some drinks and some of Ros's delicious gumbo. It has been over a century since I had a sample of it."

"I said get out," the woman repeated.

"Jane Anne," the younger girl stepped forward, coming to her sister's side.

"Sophie!" Her sister warned.

"She's a Bennett," Sophie replied, tilting her head toward Bonnie.

Jane Anne let her gaze break from Kol, to look over at Bonnie. She stared at her for a moment before her eyes snapped back to Kol, even more angry than she was before. "What do you want?"

"As your lovely sister pointed out," Kol said, gesturing behind him. "Bonnie here, is a Bennett witch. Only, she is in need of some training. And as I remember, the Devereux witches were just as powerful—"

"Why can't her own family train her?"

"They're dead," Bonnie said stepping forward and taking the lead. "I've had a couple mentors since then, but I need to learn from actual witches."

Caroline looked over at Sophie, who was staring at her with her head cocked in curiosity. She shifted, trying to ignore the eerie feeling creeping over her. Sophie's eyes dropped to her hands and then back up to her face, before focusing on her sister and Bonnie once again.

"So, the Mikaelsons want you trained so they can use you to their own ends, the way they've used witches for a thousand years?" Jane Anne asked. "Over my dead body."

"I could arrange that, witch," Kol warned. "I've had more than a few drinks and I'm bloody itching to kill something."

Sophie stepped forward. "We can't help you. Even if we did want to," she said. "If you want instruction, you've come to the wrong place."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked. Sophie flinched at the sound of her voice and Jane Anne answered.

"Witches are banned from practicing magic in the city," she explained. "Vampire rules. Punishable by death."

Kol chuckled, shaking his head. "You expect me to believe that the Devereux coven has succumbed to the rule of vampires and actually surrendered?"

Jane Anne sneered. "We aren't servants. We never will be."

"Maybe not servants," Kol said. "But certainly prisoners."

"Get out!" Jane Anne, her voice resonating through the bar.

Kol stepped closer to her. He wasn't but a few inches taller than the witch, but he raised himself to his full height, hovering over her like a falcon over its prey. He let his fangs slide forward, angry veins spreading across his cheeks.

"Make me," he taunted.

Jane Anne fixed him with an icy glare, but Caroline could see the way his closeness made her stomach clench.

"Jane Anne," Sophie said, tugging at her sister arm.

The older girl allowed herself to be pulled away from Kol and out of sight, just as Cami came back to the bar.

The blonde noticed the tension that had arisen in her absence. "Everything, okay?"

"Yeah," Caroline said. "Kol's just not feeling well."

He rolled his shoulders, letting his features return to normal and faced her. His smile this time, was not the hundred-watt grin he had been sporting all afternoon—there was tightness to it now.

"We'll be on our way," he said, pulling out a few bills and leaving them on the bar. Caroline and Bonnie followed him out.

"Well, I guess that answers the question of whether or not they'll help us," Caroline lamented, once they were outside.

"Give it about ten seconds," Kol remarked, "and then we'll have our leverage."

"What are you—"

"I'll meet you at the end of the street," Kol cut her off and pointed, rushing away before she had the chance to ask him what he meant.

She glanced over at Bonnie, noticing how uneasy her friend was acting. "You okay?"

"Something's wrong," Bonnie said. "I got this sick feeling when they walked in."

Once again, Caroline's confusion was interrupted, when Sophie appeared at the door.

"I'm sorry my sister was rude to your friend," the girl offered. "But we don't mix with vampire business. Especially not original vampire business."

"I understand," Bonnie said, offering a half smile.

Sophie's eyes dropped to Caroline's gloved hands once again and then she looked back up at Bonnie. "If you're looking for training, our coven meets sometimes outside of Marcel's territory. But we still have to do it in secret. We can't take any chances."

"Of course," Bonnie replied. "How can I find you?"

"Give me your hand," Sophie requested. Bonnie hesitated, but then decided to take the chance. She held her palm out and Sophie took it, giving it a hard squeeze. Bonnie fell into a momentary trance, before jolting out of it with a hard shake. "Tonight. Midnight." The dark hair girl said, before rushing back inside.

Bonnie stood there in a daze for a few moments, Caroline watching her.

"Oookaaay," Caroline said. "What was that? Are you alright?"

"She showed me a map. Inside my head." Bonnie shook her head again, her dark silky hair shifting around her. "I can't tell anyone where I'm going. And I can't bring anyone."

Caroline groaned. "Of course not, because let's make everything as creepy as it can possibly be." Bonnie laughed. "Come on," Caroline said, "let's go meet Kol."

Kol was at the end of the street exactly where he said he would be. He looked up at Bonnie who nodded. "You were right," she said. "They want to train me."

Caroline looked between them. "I don't get it."

"There's something going on here," Kol said. "Between the vampires and witches. The hostility she slapped me with is even harsher than usual."

"That's hard to believe," Bonnie joked.

Kol threw her a grin. "They'll want to get Bonnie on their side for whatever war is happening here."

"War?" Caroline asked.

Kol shrugged. "I'll have to find out more. But in the meantime darling Bonnie can withhold her help in exchange for what we need from them."

"And just when I thought things couldn't get more complicated," Caroline groaned. She looked over at Bonnie. "Are you okay with this?"

Bonnie raised her hands up. "I don't want to get involved in any witch wars," she said. "But I do want to help my best friend."

Caroline's mouth twisted, unsure about what they might be getting into. Her mother's words about digging themselves into a deeper hole rang in her ear. Then she realized it was actually Kol's phone ringing in his pocket. He answered it.

"Nik, what's the news?" Kol talked to him for a few moments and then hung up, smiling at the girls. "Well it seems my brother has procured us some accommodations much more worthy than last night's flea bag inn." Kol slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Prepare yourself ladies, you are about to meet one of the most cunning, charming, and charismatic vampires in the history of the world…and I include myself in that list. He'll smile in your face while he slits your throat. I didn't realize the scamp had survived all these years."

"Sounds like a real charmer," Caroline retorted. "So who is it?"

Kol's brows flicked up and down. "Interesting story. A former lover of my sister's and Nik's former protege." Kol told them. "His name is Marcel Gerard."

* * *

.

**Nothing is ever simple and the plot thickens :) I think I've mentioned before, but I'm basically rewriting season 4, how I would do it if I was the khaleesi of TVD. Marcel's history I'm sure will end up being different as the show plays out, but I've taken a few cues from what we already know and built a character for him. Same with Camille, Sophie, and Jane Anne.**

**Thanks to Kady (klausykins) and Alex (klarolineepiclove) for their beta magic!**

**follow me and fangirl with me on tumblr at hybridlovelies**


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